Ola Honningdal Grytten

The scale of Norwegian interwar unemployment in international perspective

Abstract The author offers revised estimates of Norwegian interwar unemployment, and argues that total unemployment as a percentage of the labour force was considerably lower than the unemployment rate for trade unionists. The new figures, suggesting annual unemployment to hover between 5 and 10 percent for most of the interwar period, seem somewhat lower than the scale of Norwegian interwar unemployment according to the conventional view. However, they correspond well with similar calculations carried out for other countries. suggesting that unemployment as a percentage of the total labour force was about 1.5-3 times lower than that among insured workers.

Purchasing Power of Labour: Norwegian Real Wages, 1726–2006

Abstract By utilizing data from one of the largest international historical archives on wages and prices, this article offers new nominal and real wage series for Norway, 1726–2006. These serve as measures for the purchasing power of labour as input to production. The new series cover all main industries and thereby enables solid conclusions. The new series challenge existing views on the development of the purchasing power of labour in Norway during the last three centuries.

A Norwegian consumer price index 1819–1913 in a Scandinavian perspective

The present article presents a consumer price index (CPI) for Norway 1819–1913. The CPI is a spliced series of three indices. For the period 1819–1871 a new and original index based on retail prices has been constructed. This new CPI is for the period 1871–1913 spliced with two cost of living indices and thereby stretches up to 1913. Thus, we conclude with a CPI for Norway for most of the nineteenth century and up to World War I.The CPI reflects the business cycles of the period, with growing prices during upturns and shrinking prices during downturns. The series is compared to corresponding cost of living indices from Denmark and Sweden. We trace high conformity in price movements between the countries. Given the level of economic integration within the Scandinavian Currency Union from the 1870s onwards, this conformity confirms the reliability of the new CPI for Norway.

Family households and unemployment in norway during years of crisis: New estimates 1926–1939

Interwar Norway saw a depressed labor market with mass unemployment both in the 1920s and 1930s. To protect family household income, breadwinners were preferred in the labor market. In consequence, discriminatory measures were carried out against married women and the younger part of the labor force with minor family support responsibilities. The article offers new estimates of employment, unemployment, family support responsibilities, labor participation rates, and hidden unemployment based on census data and files from the Norwegian National Archive. The major conclusion drawn is that the discriminatory policy made unemployment higher in the young non-breadwinning part of the labor force than among breadwinners, while married women to a large extent withdrew from the labor market and went into hidden unemployment.

Beyond Quantitative and Quanlitative

Abstract The present article discusses the relationship between quantitative and qualitative research in economic and social history. Its focus is on the development of quantitative history from its birth in the late 1950s and its relationship to traditional history. The author argues that the huge split between the quantitative and the qualitative approaches has been reduced, and a new generation of economic and social historians is well trained in economics and social science. This is considered beneficial, in the way that both the scope and the depth of research can be widened. The article concludes that economic and social history should be considered two separate disciplines in order to maintain their identity.

The labour market, unemployment and economic growth in Norway, 1920–1939

Abstract This article attempts an essentially macro-economic look at the development of the Norwegian economy in the inter-war period. The main focus is on the macro-economic determinants of labour market developments, in particular the causes of the extensive unemployment that persisted in the inter-war period. The article relies partly on previous research undertaken by both economists and economic historians, but also breaks new ground both with respect to the quantification of unemployment and in advancing an (admittedly tentative) explanation of its causes.

Price Stability in the Periphery during the International Gold Standard: Scandinavia

According to Willis, there are two main statistical measures that have been employed in recent research when investigating inflation dynamics. These are Volatility, or how much inflation varies quarter to quarter or year to year; and persistence, or the speed with which inflation returns to baseline after a shock’.1 Furthermore, ‘Other things equal, less persistence leads to less variability. Lower persistence is associated with faster but smaller swings in inflation over time that, in statistical terms, reduce the overall variability of inflation.’2

Family Stability and Labor Market Gender Convergence

The present paper examines the historical development in the structure of the family in terms of marriage, divorce, fertility and labor 1886-2007 in order to map quantitative changes. The paper draws new information from novel Norwegian data. Along with the changing family relations we also quantify the closing of the gender gap by converging trends for both labor participation rates and wages. The paper concludes that there is a clear correspondence between gender convergence in the labor market and less stable family relations.

Price Stability and Inflation Persistence during the International Gold standard: The Scandinavian case

In the 1870s the three Scandinavian countries Denmark, Norway and Sweden formed the Scandinavian Currency Union. Both the adoption of gold and the monetary union were supposed to lead to price stability in and between these countries. By drawing on new indices of consumer prices the present paper offers an examination of inflation dynamics, defined as price stability and inflation persistence, in the periphery of Scandinavia during the heyday of the international gold standard.

The demand for consumer goods in the modernisation of the Norwegian economy, 1850–1920

Abstract This article shows that purchasing power and consumption grew considerably in Norway in the period 1850–1920. This growth, however, brought with it only very minor changes in the patterns of consumption and demand towards industrial products and services. However, there were changes in the demand for food products in that consumption moved from basic vegetarian products towards highly-processed animal food products. Thus, the changes in Norwegian consumption patterns, resulting from increasing purchasing power had little effect on the industrialisation process in Norway, apart from in the food industry.