Networks and Scientific Integrity: Eli Heckscher and the Construction of Economic History in Sweden, 1920–1950

Abstract

This paper concerns the construction of a new historical discipline in Sweden. I use the term construction because it was indeed a conscious construction process, which took several decades, and it was mainly the work of one man: the Swedish economist Eli F. Heckscher (1879–1952). Among economists, Heckscher is well known for his contribution to the Heckscher-Ohlin paradigm and for his theory on intermittently free goods.2 He is also internationally renowned for his great work Mercantilism, first published in 1931.3 In Sweden, he is perhaps better known for being the founding father of Swedish economic history. It is a well-known fact that Heckscher worked for decades to promote economic history in Sweden, and it has been assumed that the first chairs in economic history were mainly the result of Heckscher's promotional work. But the question of how he did this and which resources were needed in order to be able to found a new discipline has never been thoroughly investigated.4 Another interesting question that has not been asked hitherto is how the process of founding a new discipline actually affected the subject itself. How did Heckscher's work influence the shaping of the new discipline? These questions focus on the interaction between political action and networking on the one hand and scientific development on the other hand. The conclusion is that the resulting discipline of economic history was formed by Heckscher's recruitment of two other scholars to the project of “creating” Swedish economic history: the historian Bertil Boëthius and the economist Arthur Montgomery. These two scholars were recruited to Heckscher's project mainly as a result of the lack of interest among economists for the new discipline. There were simply very few willing to consider joining Heckscher in his mission. The development within economics, especially the Stockholm school and its advancement to a position near political power, was in itself a strong motive for Heckscher's engagement in promoting economic history.

²On the Heckscher-Ohlin theorem, see Jones, R. W., Factor proportions and the Hecksher-Ohlin theorem, The Review of Economic studies 1956–1957: 1, vol. 24, 1–10; Heckscher, Eli and Ohlin, Bertil: Heckscher-Ohlin trade theory, Ed. Harry Flam and M. June Flanders, Cambridge. Mass: MIT 1991; O'Rourke, Kevin and Williamson, Jeffrey G., Late nineteenth-century Anglo-American factor-price convergence: were Heckscher and Ohlin right?, The Journal of Economic History, 1994:4, vol. 54, 892–916. On intermittently free goods, see Maneschi, Andrea, Eli Heckscher on intermittently free goods: A neglected anticipation of the theory of imperfect competition?, European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2004:4, vol. 11, 607–621.

³See Coleman, D. C., Eli Heckscher and the idea of mercantilism, Scandinavian Economic History Review 1957:1, vol. 5, 3–25; Coleman, D. C., Revisions in mercantilism. London, Methuen, 1969; Magnusson, Lars, Eli Heckscher, mercantilism, and the favourable balance of trade, Scandinavian Economic History Review, 1978, vol. 26; Coleman, D. C., Mercantilism revisited, The Historical Journal 1980:4, vol. 23, 773–791; Coats, AW, “Mercantilism, yet again!”, Ed. P Roggi Gli economisti e la politica economica. Naples, Edizione Scientifiche Italiane 1985; Magnusson, Lars, Eli Heckscher and his mercantilism today. Paper presented at Eli Heckscher, 1879–1952. A celebratory symposium, Stockholm school of Economics, 22–24 May 2003; Mokyr, Joel, Mercantilism, enlightenment and the industrial revolution, Paper presented at Eli Heckscher, 1879–1952. A celebratory symposium, Stockholm school of Economics, 22–24 May 2003.

⁴This is not to say that there has been no research on Heckscher as an economic historian. There are numerous studies of individual aspects of Heckscher's scholarship, although no comprehensive scientific biography has been produced. See Olsson, Carl-Axel, Eli Heckscher and the problem of synthesis. A methodological note, Scandinavian Economic History Review 1992:3, vol. 45; 28–52; Carlson, Benny, Staten som monster. Gustaf Cassels och Eli F. Heckschers syn på statens roll och tillväxt. Lund: Skrifter utgivna av Ekonomisk-historiska föreningen XII 1994; Magnusson, Lars, Eli Heckscher and Mercantilism: An introduction, Uppsala papers in economic history, 35, 1994; Carlson, Benny and Jonung, Lars, Hur såg de stora nationalekonomerna på sin roll i samhällsdebatten, Ekonomerna i debatten − Gör de någon nytta? Stockholm: Ekerlids förlag 1996; Wickman, Kurt, Om staten, liberalismen och den ekonomiska politiken: texter av Eli Heckscher i urval av Kurt Wickman. Stockholm: Timbro 2000; Henriksson, Rolf G H and Lundahl, Mats, Eli Heckscher, ekonomisk teori och Ekonomisk historia, Janusansiktet Eli Heckscher. Stockholm: Timbro 2003. The sociological and contextual aspects of the academic discipline of economic history have been discussed by Björn Hettne in Hettne, Björn, Ekonomisk historia i Sverige : en översikt av institutionell utveckling, forskningsinriktning och vetenskaplig produktion, Delrapport 4 inom UHÄ-projektet Forskarutbildningens resultat 1890 − 1975. Lund: Historiska Institutionen 1980; by Gustaf Utterström in Utterström, Gustaf, Eli Heckscher, Bertil Boëthius och “Sveriges Ekonomisk historia från Gustaf Vasa” , Meddelande från Insititutionen för Ekonomisk Historia, Umeå Universitet, nr 2 1982; by Li Bennich-Björkman in Bennich-Björkman, Li, Nationalekonomi och Ekonomisk historia. Inställningen hos nationalekonomer till ämnet Ekonomisk historia 1929–1947, Uppsala papers in economic history 6, 1985; by Birgitta Odén in Forskarutbildningens förändringar1890-1975, Lund: Historiska institutionen 1991.

Keywords:

• Heckscher
• Historiography
• sociology of science
• Economic history
• networks

This article is a brief summary of a forthcoming monograph on the beginnings of Swedish economic history in 1920–1950. The monograph is to a great extent based on the personal archives, above all the correspondence, of Eli F. Heckscher and Bertil Boëthius. For a more detailed and well-founded argumentation, see Hasselberg, Ylva, Industrisamhällets förkunnare. Eli Heckscher, Bertil Boëthius, Arthur Montgomery och svensk ekonomisk historia 1920 − 1950, forthcoming 2007. The research project in which this study has been accomplished has been financed by the Swedish Research Council.

This article is a brief summary of a forthcoming monograph on the beginnings of Swedish economic history in 1920–1950. The monograph is to a great extent based on the personal archives, above all the correspondence, of Eli F. Heckscher and Bertil Boëthius. For a more detailed and well-founded argumentation, see Hasselberg, Ylva, Industrisamhällets förkunnare. Eli Heckscher, Bertil Boëthius, Arthur Montgomery och svensk ekonomisk historia 1920 − 1950, forthcoming 2007. The research project in which this study has been accomplished has been financed by the Swedish Research Council.

Notes

²On the Heckscher-Ohlin theorem, see Jones, R. W., Factor proportions and the Hecksher-Ohlin theorem, The Review of Economic studies 1956–1957: 1, vol. 24, 1–10; Heckscher, Eli and Ohlin, Bertil: Heckscher-Ohlin trade theory, Ed. Harry Flam and M. June Flanders, Cambridge. Mass: MIT 1991; O'Rourke, Kevin and Williamson, Jeffrey G., Late nineteenth-century Anglo-American factor-price convergence: were Heckscher and Ohlin right?, The Journal of Economic History, 1994:4, vol. 54, 892–916. On intermittently free goods, see Maneschi, Andrea, Eli Heckscher on intermittently free goods: A neglected anticipation of the theory of imperfect competition?, European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2004:4, vol. 11, 607–621.

³See Coleman, D. C., Eli Heckscher and the idea of mercantilism, Scandinavian Economic History Review 1957:1, vol. 5, 3–25; Coleman, D. C., Revisions in mercantilism. London, Methuen, 1969; Magnusson, Lars, Eli Heckscher, mercantilism, and the favourable balance of trade, Scandinavian Economic History Review, 1978, vol. 26; Coleman, D. C., Mercantilism revisited, The Historical Journal 1980:4, vol. 23, 773–791; Coats, AW, “Mercantilism, yet again!”, Ed. P Roggi Gli economisti e la politica economica. Naples, Edizione Scientifiche Italiane 1985; Magnusson, Lars, Eli Heckscher and his mercantilism today. Paper presented at Eli Heckscher, 1879–1952. A celebratory symposium, Stockholm school of Economics, 22–24 May 2003; Mokyr, Joel, Mercantilism, enlightenment and the industrial revolution, Paper presented at Eli Heckscher, 1879–1952. A celebratory symposium, Stockholm school of Economics, 22–24 May 2003.

⁴This is not to say that there has been no research on Heckscher as an economic historian. There are numerous studies of individual aspects of Heckscher's scholarship, although no comprehensive scientific biography has been produced. See Olsson, Carl-Axel, Eli Heckscher and the problem of synthesis. A methodological note, Scandinavian Economic History Review 1992:3, vol. 45; 28–52; Carlson, Benny, Staten som monster. Gustaf Cassels och Eli F. Heckschers syn på statens roll och tillväxt. Lund: Skrifter utgivna av Ekonomisk-historiska föreningen XII 1994; Magnusson, Lars, Eli Heckscher and Mercantilism: An introduction, Uppsala papers in economic history, 35, 1994; Carlson, Benny and Jonung, Lars, Hur såg de stora nationalekonomerna på sin roll i samhällsdebatten, Ekonomerna i debatten − Gör de någon nytta? Stockholm: Ekerlids förlag 1996; Wickman, Kurt, Om staten, liberalismen och den ekonomiska politiken: texter av Eli Heckscher i urval av Kurt Wickman. Stockholm: Timbro 2000; Henriksson, Rolf G H and Lundahl, Mats, Eli Heckscher, ekonomisk teori och Ekonomisk historia, Janusansiktet Eli Heckscher. Stockholm: Timbro 2003. The sociological and contextual aspects of the academic discipline of economic history have been discussed by Björn Hettne in Hettne, Björn, Ekonomisk historia i Sverige : en översikt av institutionell utveckling, forskningsinriktning och vetenskaplig produktion, Delrapport 4 inom UHÄ-projektet Forskarutbildningens resultat 1890 − 1975. Lund: Historiska Institutionen 1980; by Gustaf Utterström in Utterström, Gustaf, Eli Heckscher, Bertil Boëthius och “Sveriges Ekonomisk historia från Gustaf Vasa” , Meddelande från Insititutionen för Ekonomisk Historia, Umeå Universitet, nr 2 1982; by Li Bennich-Björkman in Bennich-Björkman, Li, Nationalekonomi och Ekonomisk historia. Inställningen hos nationalekonomer till ämnet Ekonomisk historia 1929–1947, Uppsala papers in economic history 6, 1985; by Birgitta Odén in Forskarutbildningens förändringar1890-1975, Lund: Historiska institutionen 1991.

This article is a brief summary of a forthcoming monograph on the beginnings of Swedish economic history in 1920–1950. The monograph is to a great extent based on the personal archives, above all the correspondence, of Eli F. Heckscher and Bertil Boëthius. For a more detailed and well-founded argumentation, see Hasselberg, Ylva, Industrisamhällets förkunnare. Eli Heckscher, Bertil Boëthius, Arthur Montgomery och svensk ekonomisk historia 1920 − 1950, forthcoming 2007. The research project in which this study has been accomplished has been financed by the Swedish Research Council.

⁵The perhaps most influential works in this field, especially policy-wise, have been published by Helga Nowotny, Peter Scott, Michael Gibbons et al. See Gibbons, Michael et al., The new production of knowledge. The dynamics of science and research in contemporary societies. London: Sage 1994; Nowotny, Helga et al., Re-thinking science. Knowledge and the public in an age of uncertainty. Cambridge: Polity 2001.

⁶Gieryn, Thomas, Cultural boundaries of science. Credibility on the line. Chicago & London: The university of Chicago Press 1999.

⁷See for example Hermansson, Lars, “Vänskap som politisk ideology i Saxo Grammaticus Gesta Danorum”, Historisk Tidskrift 2003/4, 527–547, Koskinen, Ulla, ”Friends and brothers : rhetoric of friendship as a medium of power in late 16th-century Sweden and Finland”, Scandinavian Journal of history 2005:3/4, 238–248.

⁸Stone, Lawrence, An open elite? : England, 1540-1880. Oxford: Clarendon 1984.

⁹Bledsoe, Caroline H., Women and marriage in Kpelle society. Stanford: Stanford University Press 1981.

¹⁰Powell, Walter, Neither market nor hierarchy: network forms of organization, Market, Hierarchies, Networks: The Co-ordination of Social Life, Ed. G. Thompson et al. London: Sage 1991.

¹¹Mauss, Marcel, The Gift: the form and reason for exchange in archaic societies, London: Routledge 2002.

¹²Luhmann, Niklas, Trust and Power: Two works, Chichester: J. Wiley 1979.

¹³This paper is, as has already been pointed out, an attempt to summarise some important results of a forthcoming monograph, which in its turn is based on personal correspondence.

¹⁴On the concept of doxa in Bourdieu's theoretical framework and its use for historiographical studies, see Gunneriusson, Håkan, Det historiska fältet : svensk historievetenskap från 1920-tal till 1957, Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis: Studia Historica Upsaliensia 204, 2002, 20–26.

¹⁵Concerning networks and institutions in Swedish universities during 1900–1950, see for example Odén, Birgitta, Forskarutbildningens förändringar; Widmalm, Sven, Det öppna laboratoriet : Uppsalafysiken och dess nätverk 1853–1910, Stockholm: Atlantis 2001; Gunneriusson, Det historiska fältet.

¹⁶I will from now on refer to the professor as a male, since there are no female professors in my investigation, and would like to point out that this is a conscious decision and not a sign of gender bias.

¹⁷Concerning the professor as a civil servant, see Blomqvist, Göran, Elfenbenstorn eller statsskepp? : stat, universitet och akademisk frihet i vardag och vision från Agardh till Schück, Bibliotheca Historica Lundensis 71, 1992.

¹⁸Engwall, Lars, Gunnarsson, Elving and Wallerstedt, Eva, Mercury's Messengers − Swedish Business Graduates in Practice, Management Education and Competitiveness. London and New York: Routledge 1996. The authors demonstrate that in 1944 only 52 per cent of the top managers in Sweden had an academic background of any sort.

¹⁹Mills, C. Wright, The Power elite. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1956.

²⁰It is generally assumed that one of the most important developments in the Swedish elite during the 20th century is the evolution of a separate political elite that did not have its roots in the old nobility or bourgeoisie. Therborn, Göran, Borgarklass och byråkrati i Sverige : anteckningar om en solskenshistoria. Lund: Arkiv 1989.

²¹Morell, Mats, Jordbruket i industrisamhället. Det svenska jordbrukets historia, vol. 5. Stockholm: Natur och Kultur 2001, 14.

²²Heckscher's sister was married into the noble family of Ribbing and he corresponded with several members of this family.

²³Widmalm, Sven, ”Ett vetenskapligt nätverk: The Svedberg och hans lärjungar”, ”Bäste broder”. Nätverk, entreprenörskap och innovation i svenskt näringsliv, Ed. Ylva Hasselberg and Tom Petersson. Hedemora: Gidlunds 2006.

²⁴Gösta Bagge, along with Heckscher himself, was one of Harald Hjärne's pupils, who together formed a strong network with members occupying diverse positions above all in the central state administration. The internal name of this group was aptly “the junta”. Concerning Cassel's social position, see Giöbel-Lilja, Ingrid, Gustaf Cassel. En livsskildring. Stockholm: Natur & Kultur 1948.

²⁵See for example a letter from Heckscher to Arthur Montgomery in 1933: Eli Heckscher to Arthur Montgomery 1 of May, 1933, Eli F. Heckschers samling, Kungliga Biblioteket, Stockholm, concerning the work in the Monetary committee of 1933: “Furthermore Cassel is of course a thorn in the flesh. Every single one of his dogmas is presented with the air of indisputable scientific truth, and consideration for others is never a possibility he keeps within his field of vision. This is even more unreasonable since there are not great differences of opinion between him and me in respect to practical action, or none have emerged so far. Thus, if his motivations for actions weren't so unreasonable we had had been able to present an unbroken scientific common front. Cassel's conversion to social democracy has of course created astonishment, not the least among social democrats, and it is not easy to explain, but in my eyes it means very little.” (My translation.)

²⁶In Bourdieu's terms, such actors held a prestigious position, but in a manner opposite to the professors who had the highest reputation within the academic field. See Bourdieu, Pierre, Homo academicus, Stockholm: Brutus Östlings bokförlag Symposion 1996, 110–112.

²⁷Hasselberg, Ylva, Industrisamhällets förkunnare.

²⁸For a general analysis of the ideology of early modern household patriarchy, see Amussen, Susan Dwyer, An ordered society : gender and class in early modern England. New York: Columbia University Press 1993.

²⁹For an analysis of early modern patriarchy in a university setting, see Geschwind, Lars, Stökiga studenter. Social kontroll och identification vid universiteten I Uppsala, Dorpat och Åbo under 1600-talet. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Studia Historica Upsaliensia 199, 2001, 42–46; 228–239.

³⁰However, I would like to point out that both young economists Torsten Gårdlund and Alf Johansson for some time were boarders in the Heckscher family. Interview with Torsten Gårdlund, 7 June 2001. See also letter from Eli Heckscher to Gösta Bagge, 17 October, 1928, Eli F. Heckscher samling, Kungliga Biblioteket, Stockholm.

³¹Gunneriusson, Det historiska fältet, 78–83.

³²The metaphors of war and sacrifice are the ones most evident in my material. However, I find it likely that there were also other metaphors of this all-embracing character. The entrepreneurial ideal discussed by Sven Widmalm in relation to The Svedberg would correspond hypothetically to a metaphor of a “business venture” or, perhaps, a “treasure hunt”.

³³Marcel C LaFollette cited in Widmalm, Sven, Trollkarlen från Uppsala, Den mediala vetenskapen, Ed. A. Ekström. Stockholm: Nya Doxa 2004.

³⁴Interview with Kurt Samuelsson, 2 October 2003.

³⁵As an economist Heckscher was a committed follower of neo-classicism and on these grounds he opposed state intervention in general. Politically, however, Heckscher changed from a traditional conservative outlook, which he shared with his friends from his years as a student in Uppsala, to more liberal views. Benny Carlson has dated this political conversion to the First World War; see Carlsson, Benny, “When Heckscher changed views: From Social Conservatism to market Liberalism”. Paper presented at Eli Heckscher, 1879–1952. A celebratory symposium, Stockholm school of Economics, 22–24 May 2003.

³⁶Letter from Eli Heckscher to Arthur Montgomery, 16 July 1936, Eli F. Heckschers samling, Kungliga Biblioteket, Stockholm. Ernst Wigforss was Sweden's minister of finance during 1925–1926 and 1932–1949.

³⁷Letter from Arthur Montgomery to Eli Heckscher, 17 December 1937; letter from Eli Heckscher to Arthur Montgomery, 26 January 1938, Eli F. Heckschers samling, Kungliga Biblioteket, Stockholm. (My translation).

³⁸ Eli F. Heckschers bibliografi 1897–1949. Skrifter utgivna av Ekonomisk-historiska institutet i Stockholm, 1950.

³⁹Hasselberg, Ylva, Eli och Arthur, Arthur och Eli : ett vetenskapssociologiskt perspektiv på ekonomisk historias födelse i Sverige, 1920-1940, En helt annan historia. Tolv historiografiska uppsatser, Ed. Edquist, S. et al. Opuscula Historica Upsaliensia 31, 2004, 133–152.

⁴⁰This particular academic affair has previously been referred to by Sven Svenson, who, in the role of Hjärne's biographer, sides with him; see Svenson, Sven, Erland Hjärne : en historikers livsöde, Vitterhetsakademins serie Svenska lärde. Stockholm: Natur och Kultur 1994, 108–116. See also Gunneriusson, Håkan, Det historiska fältet, 73; Boëthius’ own views are expressed in Boëthius, Bertil, Historieprofessuren i Uppsala: några erinringar. Stockholm: Bonniers 1930.

⁴¹Hasselberg, Ylva, Industrisamhällets förkunnare.

⁴²Hasselberg, Ylva, Industrisamhällets förkunnare.

⁴³Hasselberg, Ylva, Industrisamhällets förkunnare.

⁴⁴Hasselberg, Ylva, Industrisamhällets förkunnare.

⁴⁵Magnusson, Lars, An economic history of Sweden, London & New York: Routledge 2000, 234–235.

⁴⁶Bourdieu, Pierre, Hur frigöra de intellektuella?, Texter om de intellektuella. En antologi redigerad av Donals Broady. Stockholm/Stehag: Brutus Östlings bokförlag symposion 1992.

⁴⁷Hasselberg, Ylva, Industrisamhällets förkunnare.