In its aim to explore some of the concrete consequences of regional renewal, this paper deals with the question to what extent dramatic structural transformation and renewal in Swedish regions is paralleled by favourable developments of household income, employment growth and value added total growth. We stud ied the period 1978 to 2004, building on previous research concerning the regional consequences of the dramatic technology-shift process that has been taking place in Sweden. Long-term changes in the relationships between Swedish regions are analysed by establishing conceptual connections between regional long-term economic transformation and welfare. It is argued that there are time- lags as well as systemic spatial asymmetries when it comes to technology- induced restructuring, overall regional economic growth, employment creation, and income growth. We used data from the DEVIL (Databases of Evolutionary Economic Geography in Lund) combined with additional data sets from Statistics Sweden. (authors' abstract) / Series: SRE - Discussion Papers

Departing from the renewed interest within economic history and neo-Schumpeterian perspectives on growth and economic transformation, we will suggest a theoretical framework for analyzing long term regional economic growth and transformation. Emphasis will be given to different driving forces and their various roles over time, lead-lag relations between industries and how divergence and convergence between regions shift cyclically as consequences of technological change, market integration and economic growth. We claim that systemic approaches in general have been neglected in regional science in favor of "neoregionalism" in the sense that the study of regional growth has been focusing for years on regional innovation systems and cluster theories without any regard to systemic relations at all. Using detailed time series data and applying a systemic approach we will follow Swedish regions from the structural crises in the mid 1970s to the starting point of the present financial crises. Our results suggest that there are time lags as well as systemic spatial asymmetries between industries and regions leading to changing patterns of divergence and convergence in the regional system. Furthermore, there are indications that the regional disparities between centre and periphery have increased compared to the situation in the mid 1970s.(author's abstract) / Series: SRE - Discussion Papers