Regional Dispersions : Wages and Institutions in the Interwar Period

Sammanfattning: In this thesis I analyze regional labor markets in the interwar period using a firm-level wagedatabase. Using wages for both men, women, and minors I show that previous studiesunderestimate regional inequalities. Wages for all workers converged slightly between 1922and 1930 but male wages diverged. The thesis also shows that wages were positively correlatedwith local union density levels and negatively correlated with unemployment. Wages weremore responsive towards unemployment in 1922 as compared to 1930. The findings in thisthesis point towards a new understanding of regional development during the interwar periodand sheds new light on the dawn of the Swedish model.