The Kreuger Crash of 1932 in memory of a financial genius, or was he a simple swindler?

Abstract

This paper discusses recent Swedish research on an event now celebrating its fiftieth anniversary — the Kreuger Crash.¹ It is divided into three parts. The first briefly introduces the ‘Kreuger problem’ and the scholarly work done on it during the 1970s. The second outlines the rise of the Kreuger empire, which is divided into three quite distinct periods: 1) the initial building industry stage (1908–13), 2) the match industry stage (1913–24), and 3) the period of furious growth (1924–30), when finance was the main concern of the parent company, Kreuger & Toll. Lastly the paper attempts to answer the question in its sub-title, in the process summarising the principal conclusions reached by research on the Kreuger problem during the last few years.

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Notes on contributors

HÅkan Lindgren

Håkan Lindgren, born 1941, Ph. D. and associate professor of economic history at the University of Uppsala 1972, at present attached to the Institute of Economic History Research at the Stockholm School of Economics.