Joerg Thoene/ S00065467

Joerg Thoene/ S00065467

Raphaël Cosnard/ S00065323

Luca Giancola/ S00073971

Andrea Hannon/ S00055693

Sweden

Official name:Konungariket Sverige

Capitol:Stockholm

Government: Constitutional Monarchy

King: Carl XVI Gustavo of Sweden

First Minister: Goran Personn

Currency: Swdish Crown

20 November 1959 – The European association of free exchange was established (E.F.T.A.) to promote the economic collaboration between the European countries.

The participating countries included: Austria, Denmark, Great Britain, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland.

From 6 to 25 – The European union is gradually enlarged thanks to new adherence that has happened in the course of the time.

The 6 pioneers of 1951 are: Belgium, West Germany, Luxemburg, France, Italy and Holland.

Denmark, Ireland and United Kingdom became members in 1973, Greece in 1981, Spain and Portugal in 1986 and Austria, Finland and Sweden in 1995.

In 2004 the European union welcomed the ten new countries: Cyprus, CzechRepublic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, SlovakRepublic and Slovenia.

Bulgaria and Romania are set to join in 2007.

Turkey is also under consideration to join in the near future.

24/25 June 1994 – Austria, Finland, Sweden and Norway were about to sign their adherence to the E.U., but on the 28th November 1994 a referendum in Norway rejected their country`s entrance to the E.U.

May 1998 – Official birth of the euro, the sole European currency.

11 Countries of the E.U. join the euro partake in the euro for political reasons.

In Sweden the national coin is the Swedish crown.

2004 – A Costitution for Europe. On October 29th 2004 the Heads of States, Government and the Ministers of the Foreign Affairs of 29 European Countries convened in Rome for a ceremony to sign the Treaty, now called the Treaty of Rome, and of the final action that established a Constitution for Europe.

The Treaty and the final action were signed by 25 members of the European union.

Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania (candidates Countries) only signed the final action.

The member States should now ratify the European Constitution in agreement with their internal Legislations.

This trial of ratification could last about two years.

The capital of Sweden is called Stockholm it is the largest city in Sweden. It has an area of 450,000km2 (174, 000, sq.mi) and is the third largest country in Western Europe. It´s forests-53%, Mountains-11%, Cultivated Land-8%, Lakes and Rivers-9% the longest north south distance is 1,574km (978mi) and the longest East West distance is 499km (310mi). The Kingdom of Sweden is a Nordic country in Scandinavia. It is boarded by Norway in the west, Finland in the northeast, the SkagerrakStrait and the KattegatStrait in the southwest, and the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia in the east. It is connected to Denmark in the southwest by the OresundBridge. Sweden has a low population density 20/km2 (185th) except in its metropolitan areas; with most of the inland consist of forests. The country has large natural resources of water, timber, and iron ore. Its citizens enjoy a high standard of living in a country that is generally perceived as modern and liberal. Sweden is prosperous industrial nation in northern Europe. The people of Sweden have developed highly prosperous industries based on their country´s three most important natural resources- timber, which makes up about a fifth of the country exports, a very high grade iron ore, and water power. Population in Sweden in the 1990 census was 8,587,353 and now this year 2006 there a estimated of 9,090,353.

Sweden became accession to the EU in January the 1st 1995. The currency they used is Swedish Krona (Sek).

Sweden culture industries have a strong attraction to urban area but an even stronger propensity to agglomerate. It is suggested that the spatial dynamics observed may be key to the development of the industries competencies and success. An extensive data analysis that found that cultural industries make an important contribution to the Swedish economy and labour market. It concludes by suggesting issues that need further quantitative and qualitative study.

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the place of culture in the economy. The term cultural industries encompasses a wide variety of commodified activities, including the mass media, film, and new media. Art deign, music and architecture.

Agriculture:

Although Sweden is one of the biggest countries in Europe, its arable land amounts to

Only 2.8 million hectares (1998), about 7 percent of the total land area. The rest of the

Land is covered by forests, mountains, marshlands and lakes

The climate:

Is favourable for farming, in cold winters that inhibit infestations of many crop pests.

However, agricultural conditions and the agricultural structure, activities and traditions

Different a great deal from south to north; the average temperature in Lund is +8.5 degrees C, compared to -1.2 in Karesuando, and the growing season in Scania in the south is almost 100 days longer than in Norrbotten in the north. On the other hand, the long days with the midnight sun in the north during the summer months makes the growing period intensive and allow production of high quality potatoes, berries and vegetables. Structural development in Sweden in the past few decades has led to intensification and specialisation of agriculture and to fewer and larger farms. In 1961 Sweden had 233,000agricultural holdings. By 1998 the number had decreased to 85,600. In 1995 Sweden became an EU member and consequently part of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Since then this structural trend has been intensified and the rate of decline has become somewhat higher in the north. During the period 1990 to 1998, the average size of a farm grew from 29 to 33 hectares, the total number of cows decreased while the average number per farm increased from 22 to 30, and the number of pigs per farm increased from 158 to 315. Since 1994, land use also has changed significantly due to current price and subsidy systems: grain and sugar production increased by approximately ten percent, while oilseed production decreased by 60 percent. The production of legumes (peas and beans) increased by 250 percent. Total agricultural production has increased since EU membership in 1995.

EU membership has substantially influenced the economic development of agriculture

In Sweden Product prices are becoming a less important part of the farm economy,

while direct supports are becoming more important.

Services Sector:

Sweden service sector is very heterogeneous. It encompasses all types of activities from self-employed hot dog vendors to major banks and hospitals. One way of categorizing the various activities is to distinguish between those in "ordinary markets subject to competition" - that is, the private sector - and those pursued and/or financed by governmental bodies - the public sector (mainly health care, education and social services).

The public sector expanded very rapidly during the 1960s, 70s and 80s. In the late 1950s it accounted for about 10% of jobs. Forty years later its share stood Atmore than 30%. The public sector share decreased somewhat between 1996 and2000, but has risen again since then. In 2003 the public sector accounted for 31% of all jobs. One result of this sharp expansion in the tax-supported public sector is of course that taxes rose. As a percentage of gross domestic products (GDP), tax revenues climbed from just over 30% in the late 1950s to more than 50% in the late 1990s and have stayed at this internationally high level since then. The public sector accounts for a smaller percentage, less than20%, of GDP.

Due to both financing and organizational problems, the expansion of the Swedish public sector more or less came to a halt during the 1990s. The focus of public sector activities has instead, to a growing extent, shifted toward efficiency-raising and greater exposure to competition. The private service sector, which grew rapidly during the late 1990s, has instead taken over the role of job-creation engine. Its expansion is explained in part by outsourcing from industrial companies and the expansion of household-related sub sectors as the economy improved, but above all by the rapid growth in company-oriented (also called business-to-business or B2B) knowledge-intensive services.

Trading Partners:

Distributive Trade the distributive trade, which includes both retailing and whole-saling, accounts for nearly one fifth of overall output value in the service sector and has nearly 500,000 employees, including business owners. Around 45% of jobs are in companies with fewer than 50 employees. Meanwhile the importance of large nationwide chains is clearly growing, especially in retailing. This subsector includes the IKEA home furnishings and H&M apparel chains, two of the biggest success stories in Swedish business over the past few decades. After some weak years in the early 1990s, during a deep recession, the distributive trade grew very rapidly during the period 1998-2003 as private consumption expanded at a good pace (with the exception of 2001). Value-added in the distributive trade climbed by an average of

3.5% annually these years.

Examples of trading Partners:

• Hotels and Restaurant
• Transportation and Communications
• Financial services
• Public Services
• Company-Oriented Services

Types of contribution of FDI to transition

o ...to the establishment and rise of a private

Sector

o ...to the quality of the market economy

o ...financial resources during capital-intensive

Transformation

o ... to structural change and export

Competitiveness

Contribution of FDI to the quality of the market

Economy

o Elimination of inherited distortions (elimination of

Shortages)

o Rise in productivity

o Lifting services such as telecom and banking form

Neglect

o Contribution to transparency

o Correlation between FDI sales in privatization and

Transparency: 0.67

Focus: rise in productivity

Caveats on financial resources

o Too much inflow in natural resources is

Difficult to manage (e.g. Azerbaijan,

Kazakhstan)

o Ratio may be high when GFCF is far too low

(E.g. Rep. of Moldova, TFYR Macedonia)

o One should also consider FDI-related

Financial outflows (e.g. profit repatriation)

- Consider: capital flight under "national capitalism

Building" may cause even bigger outflows.

Conclusions

o Europe´s geography is changing; EU enlargement

Accelerates that process

o If adequately managed, it may result in a win-win situation

For all countries involved

o Production can get a major boost from the changing

Geography of Europe

o Despite perceptions, there has been no massive relocation

o The competitiveness of new EU members (and other

Economies in transition) is derived from a favourable

Wage/productivity ratio: the policy challenge is to help

Preserve that advantage.

Sweden joined the European Union in 1995. During the Cold War, Europe's non-aligned Western countries, except Ireland, had considered membership unwise as the then European Community, although not involved in military co-operation, was strongly associated with NATO countries; following the end of the Cold War, Sweden, Austria and Finland soon joined. However, in a 2003 consultative referendum, Swedish citizens declined to adopt the Euro. Sweden remains neutral in international affairs, and has not joined NATO like its other Scandinavian neighbours.

Sweden's economic performance worsened beginning in the 1970s. Following a recession in the early 1990s as a result of global economic slowdown, measures were taken to liberalize the economy. The current government has attempted to maintain the welfare state while improving the economy. The economic situation has significantly improved since then. Today, Sweden has a standard of living comparable to that of other advanced Western European nations, but it is no longer at the very top.

Sweden has had two political murders in recent history. Prime Minister Olof Palme in 1986 and foreign-minister Anna Lindh in 2003.

The Swedish Krona, depicting King Carl XVI Gustaf.

Sweden´s economy is in a phase of growth (2006) and features a modern distribution system, excellent internal and external communications, and a skilled labour force. Timber, hydropower, and iron ore constitute the resource base of an economy heavily oriented toward foreign trade. The country has announced its intention to end its dependency on oil by 2020.

The engineering sector accounts for 50% of output and exports. Telecommunications, the automotive industry and the pharmaceutical industries are of great importance. Agriculture accounts for only 2% of GDP and 2% of the jobs.

Sweden's industry is overwhelmingly in private control; unlike some other industrialized Western countries, such as Austria and Italy, publicly owned enterprises were always of minor importance. 80% of the workforce is organized through the trade-unions which have the right to elect two representatives to the board in all Swedish companies with more than 25 employees. The public and the trade-union controlled pension funds, non-profit organizations and the reserve funds of the trade-unions own more than 50% of Sweden capital.

The government's commitment to fiscal discipline resulted in a substantial budgetary surplus in 2001; however, this was cut by more than half in 2002 because of the global economic slowdown and a decline in revenue coupled with an increase in government spending. The Swedish Riksbank is focusing on price stability with its inflation target of 2%. Growth is expected to reach 3.3% in 2006. High taxes have however ensured a higher degree of government influence on household consumption decisions than in most other Western nations. Public sector spending amounts to 53% of the GDP; the high figure primarily reflects the large transfer payments of the Swedish welfare state.

Swedish unemployment figures are highly contested, with the Social-Democrats defending the official figure of 5.4% (as of 2006) and the centre-right Alliance for Sweden claiming a much higher figure. These numbers do not, however, include unemployed people in government programmers (about 2% of the workforce), people on extended sick-leave, those in early retirement or those outside the unemployment system. Unemployment is higher amongst younger people. Some analysts speculate that the unemployment rate for younger people can be as high as 45%. Many Swedes work abroad in Denmark, Norway and even the UK, where they are desired and viewed as a skilled workforce. Because of the contradiction - unemployment and cooperation´s growing economy, politicians and analysts often speak of the "jobless growth".

Sweden is known for having an even distribution of income, with a Gini coefficient at 0.21 in 2001 (one of the most even income distributions in the industrialized world). However Sweden still bares scars of the economic crisis in the 1990s, induced by a glitch in the economic system and poor leadership. The crisis resulted in thousands of people unemployed and a great national debt. Two remains of the event are the great economic segregation in the country and the national debt of approximately 1245 milliard Swedish Krona (approx. 133miliard €, 2006.09).

The welfare state requires high taxes. Since the late 1960s, Sweden has had the highest tax quota (as percentage of GDP) in the industrialized world, but today the difference is only a couple of percentage points of GDP above that of other high-tax countries such as France, Belgium and Denmark. Sweden has a two step progressive tax scale with a municipal income tax of about 30% and an additional high-income state tax of 20-25% when a salary exceeds roughly 300 000 SEK per year. The employing company pays an additional 32% of an "employer's fee". In addition, a national VAT of 25% or 18% is added to many things bought by private citizens, with the exception of food (12% VAT), transports, and books (6% VAT). Certain items are taxed at higher rates, e.g. petrol/diesel and alcoholic beverages.

Politics:

The three large "royal mounds" at Gamla Uppsala.

Soon after the end of the last ice age, Sweden became populated by hunters and gatherers and then farmers during the Stone Age (10 000 BC - 1700 BC). This was followed by the Bronze Age (1700 - 500 BC) and Iron Age (500 BC - AD 1050). Societies in Sweden remained on the preliterate tribal and chiefdom levels to the 1st millennium AD.

Sweden was first mentioned in the 1st century, by Roman historian Tacit us, who wrote that the Suiones tribe lived out in the sea and were powerful in both arms and ships. This referred to the inhabitants of eastern Sweden: Svealand, primarily around Lake Mälaren. From this tribe, Sweden derived its name (see Etymology of Sweden). The southern parts, on the other hand, were inhabited by the Götar in the Götaland territory. The northern part, Norrland, was sparsely populated by Sami and possibly different tribes/people related to the Finns.

During the Viking Age of the 9th and 10th century, Swedish vikings travelled east setting their mark on the Baltic countries and Russia, whose name probably comes from the Slavic name for these Vikings: Rus. This name is probably derived from Roslagen, and is also reflected in the modern Finnish and Estonian name for Sweden: Ruotsi and Rootsi, respectively. Their routes passed the rivers of Russia down south to Constantinople and southern Europe.

Middle Ages

With Christianization in the 12th century, the country became consolidated, with its centre in the agricultural regions of Östergötland and Västergötland and later on also in the water-ways of the northern Baltic and the Gulf of Finland. In the 14th century Sweden, like the rest of Europe, was struck by the Black Death (the Plague), with all its effect.

During the Middle Ages, the expansion of Sweden into the northern wilderness of Laplandia and Norrbotten, the Scandinavian peninsula, and present-day Finland continued. Area of present day Finland was a part of Sweden proper from the early thirteenth century until 1809.

In 1389, Norway, Denmark and Sweden were united under a single monarch in a treaty known as the Kalmar Union. After several wars and disputes between these nations, King Gustav I of Sweden (House of Vasa) broke free in 1521 and established a nation state, considered the foundation of modern Sweden. Shortly afterwards he rejected Catholicism and led Sweden to the Protestant Reformation. Gustav I am considered to be Sweden's "Father of the Nation"

Modern history

The 18th and 19th centuries saw a significant population increase, which the writer Esaias Tegnér in 1833 famously attributed to "the peace, the (smallpox) vaccine, and the potatoes" [2], with the population doubling between 1750 and 1850. Many looked towards America for a better life, and although not affluent, many Swedes had sufficiently high incomes to be able to afford the boat tickets necessary to make the journey across the Atlantic. It is believed that between 1850 and 1910 more than one million Swedes moved to the United States. In the early 20th century, more Swedes lived in Chicago than in Gothenburg (Sweden's second largest city). Most Swedish immigrants moved to the Midwest United States, with a large population in Minnesota. Some Swedes also moved to Canada.