The Economy of Scandinavia
An article compiled by University of Stockholm
In this new age of War and the massive production of guns, artillery, ammunition the Nation of Scandinavia's economy is slowly slipping in part thanks to the massive spending of the government to pay for the cost of war. While the government slips into the poor house however, many people in the country have prospered greatly, and the overall power of Swedish manufactoring has been boosted greatly by the Government's spending.
Before the out break of war, most of the Scandinavian economy was primarly agrian, and while Sweden was agriculturaly poor, the nation of Scandinavia's economy was good, and strong. However, with the wars that Scandinavia has participated in, the mostly agrian economy of Scandinavia has turned primarily to a industrial power house.
In the effort to transport goods as quickly as posssible to fund the war, Railroads were laid down from Government grants at an astonishing pace. Farmers that before had to transport their farm goods for several days before being able to sell them now could load them up on the ever increasing railroad cars that were constantly moving to support the war. Indeed, as more and more men went into the army to support the war, those farmers left behind began to find ways to increase agricultural output to keep up Scandinavia's farming output. Tilling and irrigation was vastly improved, along with rudimentry machines called 'tractors', running on steam (these were, however, dangerous and prone to exploding. A new invention, the combustion engine, had not yet gained popularity or been proved to be a vast improvement)
Agriculturally was not the only change to the Scandinavian economy. With the increasing enlistment of men into the elite Scandinavian army, many industrial businessmen in the cities had to find more ways to produce more, with less workers. This is called 'the application of scarce resources', which in turn abides by the rules of 'supply' and demand.
The scarce resources of Scandinavia include vast amounts of Timber, and Iron, and not alot of anything else, since the agricultural land of Scandinavia is poor, although the Scandinavian agricultural keeps up with the demand by finding new ways to increase its supply. The Business moguls of Scandinavia, cheif among them the Krupp family, used the scarce resources of Scandinavia to the best advantage.
Iron is mined, and then shipped to the industrial cities by Scandinavian railroads. The iron is smelted, and then shipped to other factories for production in various things. The rebuilt Kalmar and Stockholm are the cheif cities that smelt the newly mined iron, with their cheap populations of immigrants minimizing the cost for iron smelting. Once smelted, the iron is carried on railroads to such cities as the ammunition production center of Goteborg, the main gun producer and Federated Kingdoms trading entery point of Helsingborg, and the artillery producer of Karlskrona.
The iron is also shipped to other cities for their own compartively minor production, as well as to cities that produce the railroad rails and trains. A new proccess of iron making has arisen from this increased need for longer lasting railroad rails, and better weapons: steel making.
In anycase, the Scandinavian economy was dependant on the production of iron, and the creation of weapons which were then sold to the Scandinavian government, and other governments abroad for amazing profit. The Krag rifles and Krupp artillery designs were the main finished exports exported through Helsingborg to the Federated Kingdoms, Poland, and other nations of the RGC. This foriegn export of weapons has made Scandinavia a prime power in arms production, and funds it economy through the Scandinavian weapons that other countries buy from Scandinavia (many countries also produce the weapons in their own countries, although these are not as well made as the Scadinavian Krags).
While this industrial output is very high, its industry is also effected by the massive war effort of the Scandinavian government, recruiting many workers from the factories to the army. Thankfully, Women and immigrants (primarily from Germany and France, thanks to the bloody wars there, and spurned on by the Federal reforms favoring Immigrants made by the Scandinavian King) have taken their place, and production has continued to soar every higher. This production has benefited the economy of Scandinavia greatly, producing much money for the workers, and the owners which they then use buying foriegn products (mostly FK), who in turn buys Scandinavian weapons. This process has created an futher dependance on trade with the Federated Kingdoms, which has increased the economy of both nations, the FK with finding a good market for its goods in a world increasingly at war, and Scandinavia with a trading partner in need of its weapons and goods with the amount of wars happening near production centers.
Timber is also an important resource for Scandinavia, since it provides the fuel for steam driven Railroads all over the world, and it is exported to many countries in need of massive amounts of timber. Timber is also being increasingly sold for homebuilding the growing cities of Scandinavia, most notebly the ever increasing immigration, and the need for homes, in Stockholm and Kalmar. Scandinavian timber is also used in ship production, and other such uses for Scandinavian timber.
Overall, even with the war effort bleeding much of the government dry, the economy of Scandinavia is generally propsering from the war, and is increasing thanks to increased Railroads, agricultural techiniques, iron production, finished iron product trade and selling to the government, and foriegn buyers, and the timber trade in regards to the railroads and home production.
Imports: Food, Minerals
Exports: Iron, Weapons, Ammunition, Timber, Rudimentry Steel