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iv. education and . mental culture.
the contrary, is remarkable for a sudden and very vigorous display of intellectual
activity in the field of economics, particularly resulting in pamphlets on questions
of the day but producing also larger works of a more ambitious character.
At first this new literature was purely mercantile; among its exponents
in that day we should name: Anders Bachmanson (ennobled as Nordencrantz)
1697—1772, who wrote "Arcana oeconomiæ et commercii" (The secrets of
economics and commerce) in 1730; in advanced life he adopted a somewhat different
standpoint; next Anders Berch (1711—74) who was the first occupant of the
professorial chair in Political Economy, established at Uppsala in 1740 (probably
the fourth in Europe) and by means of his "Inledning till allmänna
hushållningen" (Introduction into General Economy, 1747) took a lead in turning
mercantile policy into a systematic body of doctrine; and finally J. F. Kry ger
(1707—77). Economic policy, too, became decidedly mercantile in spirit.
Towards the end of the "Period of Liberty", however, a liberal tendency broke
ground, of which the foremost representative was Anders Chydenius (1729
—1803), a Finnish priest and parliamentarian of genius, who in a series of
pamphlets during the Riksdag of 1765—66 condemned the whole economic system
then prevalent. He was in most questions more radically individualistic than,
e. g., Adam Smith, and may be regarded as the foremost of Swedish writers on
economic subjects, owing not only to the independence and consistency of his
theories but also by the extraordinary ability with which he presented them.
The flourishing literature on economic subjects received a considerable check in
Gustavus Hi’s time,(1772—92), but the physiocrats now gained a certain
ascendancy on the king’s adviser, Count Karl Fredri]c Scheffer (1715—86), and this
in its turn reacted upon industrial policy.
Nor yet did the literature of economics attain such importance in the first
half of the 19th century as under the "Period of Liberty". The want of an
economic literature was supplied chiefly by translations, first from German, and
later from French liberal works on economic subjects. Yet the practical
problems of the day elicited works from writers such as "Riksprosten" ("Dean of
the Kingdom"), F. B. von Schwerin (1764—1834), a leading politician and
clergyman; and M. F. Björnstjerna (1779—1847), both specialists in credit and finance
problems, and, further, the Secretary of State, K. D. Slcogman (1786—1856),
who published in 1845—46 "Anteckningar om rikets ständers bank" (Notes
on the Bank of the National Estates), the present Bank of Sweden, the oldest
note-issuing bank in the world; and the authors on commercial policy, Knut
Bonde (1815—71) and K. M. Rydqvist (1806—84). Most of these men did not
belong to the "classical" or liberal school in economics. Semi-mercantile views
still survived at the Universities, characteristically coupled with social ideas of
a quite modern cast, and particularly under the influence of Swedish
philosophers with a historic colouring (Höijer, Biberg, Järta and particularly Geijer).
Foremost among University teachers, we must mention Bishop K. A. Agardh
(1785—1859), who among other things combated the reckless selling-off of
Crown forests, and who in his "Försök till en statsekonomisk statistik över
Sverige" (Essay in the Statistics of Swedish State Economy, 1852—63) in
collaboration with K. E. Ljungberg (1820—1910) bequeathed a remarkable
work; furthermore the three generations of the Rabenius family, of whom
the two first successively for upwards of half a century adorned the professorship
in Political Economy at Uppsala (1792—1837); (the most remarkable of the
three was the second in order, L. G. Rabenius, 1771—1846); finally the juristic
historian P. E. Bergfalk (1798—1890).
About the middle of the 19th century, liberal economic philosophy definitely
asserted itself, chiefly in its French form, in politics represented by the Minister
of Finance, J. A. Gripenstedt (1813—74). In the field of economic literature,
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