Erik Bengtsson

Senior lecturer, Associate professor

Personal profile

Research

I am senior lecturer in Economic History, since December 2020. Before that, I was a postdoc here at Lund 2015-2017 and associate senior lecturer 2017-2020. I came to Lund from Gothenburg where I got my PhD in 2013. I became docent in Economic History in 2019.

My research interests are especially in two broad fields. One is historical living standards, material culture, wealth and inequality, especially in Europe since the seventeenth century. See for example my research on wealth inequality in Sweden 1750-1900 in The Economic History Review, the follow-up paper on Stockholm 1650-1750 in the same journal, or the article on capital shares and income inequality in the Journal of Economic History. From 2019 to 2024, I led a research project financed by the Swedish Research Council on incomes in Sweden 1870-1970. For outcomes of the project see for example our article in Explorations in Economic History on incomes, work, gender and inequality in Stockholm 1870-1970. In June 2025 the Journal of Economic History will publish our article on the incomes of the rich during the "great levelling" of the income distribution in the first half of the twentieth century.

The second field is historical and comparative political economy, including political history. I've written papers about the role of agrarian politics and of civil society in Swedish democratization, about wage bargaining in the 1930s to 1950s, as well as more purely political history research. As part of this research interest I also have a special interest in the comparative political economy of Sweden from the 1950s to the 1990s.

The two broader fields also inter-relate, of course, for example in my article with Diego Castañeda Garza on the Mexican Revolution and economic inequality, and in my ongoing work with Felix Kersting on agrarian inequality and politics in Prussia and Sweden c. 1870-1950.

As of 2025 I do research in three projects.

From 2020 to 2025 I am active as a researcher in a large research programme led by professor Jenny Andersson of Uppsala University, "Neoliberalism in the Nordics". In this project I work on the transformations of wage bargaining and economic policy in the Nordic countries since the 1960s. See for example my book chapter on the transformations of wage bargaining in Sweden from the 1960s to the 2010s, the book chapter on economic inequality in the Nordics since the 1970s, and the article on Scandinavian inflation-fighting in the 2020s.

From 2020 to the spring of 2025 Mats Olsson and I lead a project on material living standards and material culture in Sweden c. 1680 to 1860, building mainly on probate inventories. Marcus Falk is writing his doctoral dissertation within this project and he will defend the dissertation in the spring semester of 2025. For an example of research within this project, see our Rural History article on rural production capacity 1670-1860 and Marcus's paper, forthcoming in Social Science History, on the consumption of the same households.

From 2025 to 2027 I also work in a project led by Magnus Wennerhag (Södertörn), on Swedish democratization. I am working on a paper on the political geography of the emergent Swedish democratic political culture in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Teaching

Since I came to Lund, I have been the course director for three undergraduate courses: Global Economic History (spring semesters), The Economic and Social History of Sweden (autumn semesters), and The Rise and Fall of the Swedish Model (every second spring semester). In 2025, as I serve as deputy head of department, I will only teach the course on Swedish history.

I am also course director of two tutorial courses for masters students, "The History of Economic Inequality" (spring semesters) and "The History of Economic Thought" (autumn semesters). Previously I was the course director for the masters' level course on research design.

Outside of Lund I also have lecturer experience from Gothenburg, KTH in Stockholm and the University of Sao Paulo.

Societal impact

In terms of outreach, I very much enjoy participating in wider discussions in society based on my research and areas of expertise. During 2024 I have held public lectures at the city library of Lund as well as the Dalby library.

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 1 - No Poverty
  • SDG 5 - Gender Equality
  • SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth
  • SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
  • SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Subject classification (UKÄ)

  • Economic History
  • Work Sciences

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Collaborations the last five years

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