Vilka var de rikaste svenskarna? En studie av svenska miljonärer under 1800-talets moderniseringsprocess

This thesis examines the wealthiest individuals in 19th century Sweden. The specific questions asked are which sectors of the economy these individuals accumulated their wealth in; and to what extent they belonged to the nobility. The thesis also further investigate whether the wealthiest were overrepresented as high ranking politicians such as ministers, members of parliament and mayors. The economic historical literature on the wealthiest in 19th century Sweden is scarce, and there are no former studies conducted on the subject of what made the wealthiest wealthy in industrialising Sweden. This knowledge gap is something this thesis aims to complement with new data. The empirical analysis is conducted on new data collected from 10 books by the author Carl Fredrik Lindahl (pseudonym: Lazarus) in a collection on the very wealthy in Sweden published 1897 to 1905 with the title Svenska miljonärer. The main conclusions from this inquiry is that the very wealthy in 19th century Sweden primarily made their fortunes from trade and agriculture, and that the nobility where particularly overrepresented among the very wealthy but with a downward trend over time. There where also signs of the industrialization in the second half of the 19th century Sweden, affecting the wealth creation at the top, with increasing numbers of wealthy coming from the industrial sector, and decreasing numbers of wealthy coming from the agricultural sector