Mill capacities and mill monopolies in Early Modern Sweden, 1625–1825

The aim of this project is to study the economic and social workings of the milling industry in Sweden during the Early Modern period (ca. 1625–1825).

The main research question is how local mill monopolies arose, persisted, and changed over the period, and how this resulted in lacking milling capacity.

The project will gather quantitative data on mills from taxation sources, which will be analysed together with previously published data on e.g., agricultural production, population, and land ownership.

In addition, the project will also study court records detailling what actors were involved in the milling industry, and how and why their actions resulted in local mill monopolies. The project team consists of Dr. Martin Andersson (PI), Prof. Patrick Svensson, and one doctoral student.

The project duration is three years (2025–2027).The project contributes to the international research frontier by being the first study of how the milling industry developed during the Early Modern period, based on detailed microdata covering a whole country. This has previously not been possible for any other country before the industrial revolution.

Our study will thus contribute to the debates on rising regional inequality, to role and function of economic institutions in Early Modern Europe, as well as to the long-term changes to the food chain system that mills were a pivotal element in.