Internationell ekonomi och svenska institutioner - välfärd, solidarisk lönepolitik och internationalisering

Sammanfattning: The topic of interest is why Swedish unemployment after OPEC - 1 remained exceptionally low, compared to the OECD average. The object of study is the evolution of welfare institutions, like the Rehn ? Meidner model, after WWII, and the aim is to explore why the institution of solidaristic wage bargaining collapsed coming the nineties. Deployed theoretical perspectives are how domestic institutions determine a country's adaptation to alterations of the international economic system. However, equally important are how policy objectives, like full employment, becomes institutionalized and therefore guides the actions undertaken. I present an ideal type of the model in Sweden, and then examine how well it functioned in two different circumstances, the Bretton Woods and the mid eighties. I will argue that the characteristics of Bretton Woods favoured the institution, while the causes of internationalization, instability and post ? industrialism, amongst other things, created an untenable situation. Furthermore, the results show that domestic institutions themselves determined how Sweden came to adjust, and of particular importance was the institutionalized objective of full employment, which extensively influenced the policies undertaken. In the end Sweden came to face a situation were solidaristic wage bargaining had lost its legitimacy, and ability to alter economic outcomes