Sweden's foreign trade and shipping around the year 1700

Abstract

Abstract The Swedish foreign trade conditions during the decades around 1700, i.e. during the later stage of Sweden's position as a Great Power, forms an interesting chapter. Eli F. Heckscher in this sphere, as in so many others, has made the first attempt at a synthesis. Because my own researches1 have produced results which deviate from those of Heckscher and, furthermore, have given rise to some discussion with Heckscher, 2 This discussion with Heckscher took place in 1948 in connection with the appointment of the first professorial chair in Economic History at Lund's University when Heckscher served as an academic advisor. Heckscher handed over to me privately at that time a memorandum criticising my methods of calculation to which I replied. This inspired Heckscher to a new and enlarged memorandum, which was added to his stencilled report to the appointing authorities, thereby, according to Swedish law, making it public. (This report is now in the Lund University Library.) My reply to this second memorandum was not included in that report, although my reply to the first memorandum was. This made what was in the beginning a private discussion and then later a public one seem somewhat strange. Heckscher's criticism was not publicised in any other form than the stencilled report. This is one of the reasons why it became important to me once more to take up those problems that are discussed in this article. The discussion with Heckscher has given me reason to express more precisely my arguments. It is also my hope that my methods and fmdings will be of some interest to scholars in other countries studying foreign trade and shipping and perhaps using the same kind of source material. it seems natural to begin this article with an account of Heckscher's report.3