Economic interest groups in Finnish foreign-trade policy decision-making in the early years of independence

Abstract

The structure of decision-making in the field of trade policy in Finland after World War I is analysed in this study, with the theory of public choice and the institutional theory of Douglass C. North as the premises. Dependent on her foreign trade, Finland was quickly forced by economic considerations to build up a trade policy of her own. One way to normalise the situation was to create corporative structures in which the private sector wielded direct influence. Typical of the Finnish system was the key role played by certain, relatively few, people especially in negotiations on trade agreements. This is interpreted as resulting from the administrative underdevelopment of Finland in the early years of independence, the country's small size, and the scarcity of persons classifiable as an economic élite. The political heritage of the 1918 civil war is also seen as a strong explanatory variable.