New book on historical property prices and other data

Date 21/05/2014

The book is the second in a series of two books on financial history and focuses on property prices, gross domestic product, equity prices, money supply, national debt and the Riksbank's accounts.

Sweden is a small country, but provides an interesting historical example of an area on the periphery of Europe with statistical data of a high quality. The Riksbank is considered to be the world's oldest central bank. Presenting its balance sheets and central monetary and financial variables thus offers a unique account of monetary history. Price and macroeconomic stability are constantly recurring issues. What we can learn from history is that the timing of crises and major changes in the economic system tend to be very difficult to predict.

The book also presents property prices going all the way back to the 1870s, which may bring a new perspective to the discussion of whether or not price increases on Swedish property can be interpreted as a housing-price bubble.

The book will be launched at a seminar held at the Riksbank on Friday, 23 May at 10 a.m. Deputy Governor Karolina Ekholm will introduce the seminar. Following this, Rodney Edvinsson, associate professor in Economic History at Stockholm University and one of the book's editors, will give a more detailed presentation of the book's contents. Finally, Marc Flandreau, professor at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, will comment on the book's contribution to science. The seminar will be open to journalists.

The book, which is published by the Riksbank together with publishers Ekelids Förlag AB, forms part of a more comprehensive project that has previously resulted in a database of historical monetary statistics which can be found on the Riksbank's website. The first book was published in 2010 and presents data on exchange rates, prices and wages, with some series going all the way back to the 13th century.