ABSTRACT
The observer from afar may be intrigued by the Swedish Economic Association1 (henceforth: Association) as being possibly a significant component in the early institutionalisation of economics as a discipline in Sweden. Many may have been impressed by the renowned lecture Wicksell delivered at the meeting on 14th April 1898 (Wicksell 1898a). On that occasion Wicksell reported on his just completed seminal treatise, Interest and Prices (Wicksell 1898b). This work, which may be said to signal the rise of an independent Swedish line of economic thinking, has been described by a leading commentator as the start of modern macroeconomics (Leijonhufvud 1997:1). However, the Association, which had been set up in 1877 ‘to promote the study of economies’, contributed only marginally to building up the institutional base of professional economics at that time. The Association was quite active at the turn of the century but, as will be argued at the end of this chapter, it can only be said to have been of importance for the academic institutionalisation of economics in a very indirect sense.
