Patrick Svensson

My research concerns societal transformations, how they occur, what and who drives them, and how they affect people. I have focused my studies primarily on the agrarian revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries, but I am also interested in early modern developments from the 17th century, as well as how people in rural areas experienced and were part of the industrial revolution of the late 19th century.

My research has been funded through a number of projects financed by, among others, the Swedish Research Council (VR), the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation, Handelsbanken's research foundations, the Spanish and French governments, European funds through COST, and several Swedish private foundations.

I am currently leading the research project Micro meets macro – a Swedish village during the agrarian and industrial revolution (VR) and am a member of the projects Mill Capacity and Mill Monopoly in Early Modern Sweden, 1625-1825 (VR) and Who Lived Where? – Spatial Perspectives on the Distribution of Wealth in Stockholm in 1715 (Brandförsäkringsverket).

I have taught for over 30 years at all levels, from undergraduate to master's level and for doctoral students. In addition to being course coordinator for a number of courses, I have also developed my own courses. I have also written two teaching cases that I have used in my teaching: Early Industry and Regional Specialisation and The Merchants in Venice.

I am currently the course coordinator and teacher for the master's course 20th Century Agricultural Economy and Politics. In addition, I give occasional lectures on other courses in agricultural history, and in recent years I have also given an introductory lecture on agricultural history for new agronomy students.

Carlfjord, Sofia and Patrick Svensson (2026) "Agricultural education in primary schools in Sweden c. 1850-1919: Central directives and local implementations", in Brassart, L., Fagnani, M. L., Maffi, L. och O. Mazzotti (eds.) Demeter in the Classrooms: Agricultural Education for Children, Eighteenth-Twentieth Centuries. Turnhout: Brepols.

Svensson, Patrick (2025) “The railway, sawmill, forest and Norrland”, in Arfvidsson Womack, A., Svanberg, F. and U. Torell (eds.) Nordic Life. 500 years of Cultural History. Stockholm: Nordiska Museet och Makadam förlag, p. 273-279.

Hedefalk, Finn, Svensson, Patrick and Anna Tegunimataka (2024) “Migration in Times of Economic Growth and Recession”, in Dribe, M., Nilsson, T. and A. Tegunimataka (eds.) Urban lives. An Industrial City and Its People During the Twentieth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 115-145. Open access

Dribe, Martin and Patrick Svensson (2024) “Landskrona: The Industrial City”, in Dribe, M., Nilsson, T. and A. Tegunimataka (eds.) Urban lives. An Industrial City and Its People During the Twentieth Century. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 26-81. Open access

Bengtsson, Erik and Patrick Svensson (2022) "The living standards of the labouring classes in Sweden, 1750-1900: evidence from rural probate inventories", Agricultural History Review, 70:1, pp. 49-69. Open access  

Bengtsson, Erik, Olsson, Mats and Patrick Svensson (2022) "Mercantilist Inequality: Wealth and Poverty in Stockholm 1650-1750", Economic History Review, 75:1, pp. 157-180. Open access.

Olsson, Mats and Patrick Svensson (2019) ”Le démarrage de la croissance. La révolution agricole dans le Sud de la Suède, 1702-1864” in Herment, L. (ed.) Histoire rurale de l’europe, XVIe-XXe siècle. Paris: Editions EHESS, p. 153-176.

Bengtsson, Erik and Patrick Svensson (2019) “The wealth of the Swedish peasant-farmer class 1750-1900: composition and distribution”, Rural History. Economy, Society, Culture. vol. 30, p. 129-145.

Bengtsson, Erik, Missiaia, Anna, Olsson, Mats and Patrick Svensson (2019) “Aristocratic wealth and inequality in a changing society: Sweden 1750-1900”, Scandinavian Journal of History, vol. 44, issue 1, p. 27-52.

Bengtsson, Erik, Missiaia, Anna, Olsson, Mats and Patrick Svensson (2018) "Wealth inequality in Sweden 1750-1900.", Economic History Review, 71:3, p. 772-794.  

Hedefalk, Finn, Svensson, Patrick and Lars Harrie (2017) "Spatiotemporal historical datasets at micro-level for geocoded individuals in five Swedish parishes, 1813-1914.", Nature: Scientific Data, 4:170046. doi: 10.1038/sdata.2017.46. www.nature.com/articles/sdata201746

Dribe, Martin, Olsson, Mats and Patrick Svensson (2017) “The agricultural revolution and the conditions of the rural poor: southern Sweden 1750-1860” The Economic History Review, vol. 70, no. 2, p. 483-508. 

Olsson, Mats and Patrick Svensson (2016) “The landlord lag. Productivity on peasant farms and landlord demesnes during the agricultural revolution in Sweden 1700-1860”, Scandinavian Economic History Review, 64:1, p. 55-71.

Hedefalk, Finn, Harrie, Lars and Patrick Svensson (2015) “Methods to create a longitudinal integrated demographic and geographic database on the micro-level: a case study of five Swedish rural parishes, 1813-194”, Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History, vol. 48, no. 3, p. 153-173.

Hedefalk, Finn, Harrie, Lars and Patrick Svensson (2014) “Extending the Intermediate Data Structure (IDS) for longitudinal historical databases to include geographic data”, Historical Life Course Studies, vol. 1, p. 27-46.

Hillbom, Ellen and Patrick Svensson (eds.) (2013) Agricultural Transformation in a Global History Perspective. London and New York: Routledge.

Bergenfeldt, Fredrik, Olsson, Mats and Patrick Svensson (2013) “Wagons at Work: A Transport Revolution from Below – the Case of Sweden, 1750-1850”, Agricultural History Review, vol. 61, no. 1, p. 63-82.

Dribe, Martin, Olsson, Mats and Patrick Svensson (2012) "Manorialisme et gestion du risque dans la société préindustrielle. La Suède aux XVIIIe et XIXe siècles", Annales. Histoire, Sciences sociales, 67:2, pp. 451-469.

Dribe, Martin, Olsson, Mats and Patrick Svensson (2012) “If the landlord so wanted… Family, farm production and land transfers in the manorial system”, Economic History Review, vol. 65, no. 2, p. 746-769. 

Olsson, Mats and Patrick Svensson (eds.) (2011) Growth and stagnation in European historical agriculture. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers.  

Olsson, Mats and Patrick Svensson (2010) "Agricultural growth and institutions, Sweden 1700-1860", European Review of Economic History, 14:2, pp. 275-304.