Bilateral shipping and trade Swedish-Finnish experiences in the post-war period

Sammanfattning: This thesis explores the bilateral shipping and trade between Finland and Sweden during the post-war period. It comprises five articles and one introductory chapter for which the common point of departure is the growth and transformation of bilateral trade and shipping. The first two articles analyse the structural change of bilateral trade from a national and regional perspective. The three following articles provide an overview and analysis of the ferry shipping. By integrating the perspective in these articles in the introductory chapter and by providing a long historical record, the change of economic relations between Finland and Sweden in the post-war period is discerned. This thesis applies an economic historical approach and is founded on various fields of social science. The issue of trade is analysed within the framework of conventional and new trade theory, and the analysis of ferry shipping is governed by economic and geographic theories. The studies on trade shows that the transformation of production seen in Finland and Sweden meant that the trade increasingly became dependent on an exchange of products arising from matching industries. In turn the foreign trade arising from the Northern part of Finland and Sweden was still dominated by so called inter-industry trade. In addition to these results, the studies of ferry services shows that the growth of vehicles and passengers conveyance, together with the expanded onboard services, also intensified the commercial exchange. Due of the multi-output structure, the ferry service efficiently met the growing demand of travel and trade. The main conclusion of this thesis is that the convergence of incomes and economic structure had a significant impact on bilateral trade and ferry shipping. In addition the process of economic integration, technological advances together with specific policies issued on shipping also contributed to strengthen the economic ties between Finland and Sweden.