Theorizing About Macro-Economic Instability: Monetary Equilibrium (versions of 1932, 1933, and 1939)

Myrdal’s attack on his elders in Sweden’s community of economists — as set out in The Political Element in the Development of Economic Theory — caused some consternation in Stockholm, but did not seriously compromise his ability to work with most of his professional colleagues. He served as a dutiful member of Gösta Bagge’s team — funded by the Rockefeller Foundation in New York — that was engaged in documenting Sweden’s economic history statistically.1 Myrdal contributed a substantial volume to this enterprise, entitled The Cost of Living in Sweden, 1830–1930, that was published in 1933. Though he had reservations about the quality of the data with which he had been obliged to work, he drew some satisfaction from his attempt to transcend the limitations of the raw material. In addition, he contributed a major essay — dealing with migration from the countryside to urban areas in Sweden since the mid-nineteenth century — to a volume honoring Gustav Cassel on the occasion of his retirement in 1933.