The Norrbotten Project
Summary
In this project we investigate the changing economic and cultural landscape of the northern most county in Sweden: Norrbotten. Norrbotten has a diverse demographic makeup, consisting of an indigenous population as well as other minority populations living alongside the majority population. Our research aims to understand how the economic development of Norrbotten affected these different groups of individuals.
Participating researchers: Alexandra Sandström, William Skoglund, Jonatan Andersson
The Industrialization of the North and it's Consequences.
In this project we're interested in understanding how industrialization in the Swedish northern most counties affected individuals over time. During the late 19th and early 20th century, railroads were established, and brought along industrialization, the expansion of mining operations and an interruption to the herding of reindeer, a staple of the indigenous (Sami) culture. In our projects we analyze the effects of this industrialization, what opportunities it brought for the population and which consequences it meant for the indigenous people.
Economic and Cultural Effects of Education with Language Restriction: Evidence from Sweden's Tornedalingar
Nations often attempt to foster a national identity and assimilate populations by promoting a national language within the educational system. While these interventions can strengthen a sense of national identity among minorities, at times they can trigger backlash. In this paper, I study the causal effects of introducing state-funded schools with language restrictions in northern Sweden, near the Finnish border, at the turn of the 20th century. Using linked individual-level census data from 1880–1930 and a difference-in-differences design, I estimate the individual economic and cultural effects in a setting where the treated population was a poor local majority but a national minority. This paper aims to enhance our understanding of homogenization policies with implicit signals of social (un)acceptance toward minorities in geographically segregated, minority-dense areas.