Introduction

The hallmark of a new Stockholm School of Political Economy would be the quality of its research and the unbiased use of sources in the European 'historical tradition' rather than the American 'economic theory-led tradition'. This school would reverse the specialisation and fragmentation experienced in the 20th century by the many disparate strands of the political economy profession.

The internet could provide a unifying force for such a programme.

A major fault line runs through the history of political economy itself in Sweden with the defeat of Linnean political economy and the import of the Prussian School of Political Arithmetic by Anders Birch in the middle of the 18th century. A new Linnaeus approach to political economy could be developed through a theoretical development of organistic rather than mechanistic models and building on the 18th century ideas of  Linnaean economics. Economic history would be closer to botany and concepts such as 'ecotings' and economic 'species' would be explored.

Another fresh approach might be the story of wool, herring, horses, cows, wheat, copper, trees, walls, fences, boats etc...over time and space....might throw more light on our past (and provide a more useful guide to the future) than the court records and (unwritten) intrigues upon which the wealth of nations officially rests. One advantage of this approach could be to bring development economics back under the umbrella of economic history. It also lends itself to the re-integration of archives and historical data that has been fragmented into many national archives.

Life-long and world-wide learning as a concept for 21st century education requires a response from academia. One response would be to develop the concept of 'information-hubs'. The Stockholm-Uppsala city region with its strong IT-base would be an obvious candidate as a 'world university information and research nodal point'.

Stockholm University could pioneer a 'global college' educational structure that effectively leapfrogs a generation of educational development, much of which is still rooted in the past instead of in the future (schooling, open university etc.).

Click here for further discussion of the internet strategy and web-based research programme proposed for the Stockholm University Economic History Institute.

Friday 4th June 1999