The study investigates the extent, development and nature of foreign direct investments in Sweden during the years 1895-1945. The work also has a qualitative aspect, which may be summarized as a question: Why do foreign companies undertake direct investments in Sweden? The basic premise has been that the companies' decisions are based on their own calculations regarding profit interests and structural conditions on the market, but these decisions are also influenced by various power relations. The aim is to discover partly the motives behind a company's readiness to enter the Swedish market, and partly the national and international power relations that furnished the institutional conditions favouring or hindering the making of direct investments in Sweden. The study shows that direct investments were much more extensive before 1945, above all before World War One, than has previously been assumed. Slightly more than half the direct investments were made by Denmark and Norway, and the greatest contribution from the major industrial nations was made by Germany. American direct investments increased in importance during the interwar years, and represented the greatest volume of activity in the foreign sector by the end of the 1930's. Manufacturing companies were the most important before World War One, as a result of direct investments in Swedish natural resources and the consumer goods industry. During the interwar years direct investments inclined more to forward linkage, and the majority were made in the chemical and engineering industries. Conditions in Sweden exerted most influence on direct investments before World War One - for example, Swedish tariff policy. Sweden's attempts to protect itself against the imperialism of the large industrial nations resulted moreover in 1916 in legislation which severely restricted the possibilities of making direct investments in the raw materials industry. After World War One, motives connected with specific countries and owneers were more important. At this time conflicts between American and European, primarily German, interests also entered the picture. One of the circumstances affecting direct investments was the increasing importance of the Scandinavian countries in the world market. This led to altered conditions between the Scandinavian countries, and partly to the realization by international business that Sweden must be seen as a market in its own right and not just as a sub-market in the Scandinavian region. / digitalisering@umu

Pollution is one of humanity's most pressing problems. Although there are many types of pollution, air pollution is one of the main causes of global warming. Therefore, simultaneously improving environmental quality and economic growth, and studying the variables that affect this relationship, has been one of the key issues for researchers and policymakers in recent years, especially in the wake of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.This paper aims to estimate the relationship between carbon emissions, GDP per capita, renewable energy and non-renewable energy sources as well environmental taxes in G10 industrialized countries over the period 1972-2020. Regression analysis and panel data were used to answer the questions. Previous studies of the Ecological Kuznets Curve (EKC) for CO2 emissions, with most samples based on G10 member countries, have had mixed results. The environmental Kuznets curve shows that economic development initially leads to environmental degradation, but once economic growth reaches a certain level, the relationship between society and the environment begins to improve and the degree of environmental degradation decreases. From a very simple perspective, this might suggest that economic growth is good for the environment. Critics, however, argue that economic growth is not guaranteed to lead to environmental improvements, which can often backfire. At the very least, it requires very targeted policies and attitudes to ensure that economic growth goes hand in hand with environmental improvement. / <p> Tre helt olika miljö-/BNP-kurvor</p><p>Studien undersöker etablerade teorier för att beskriva sambandet mellan miljöskador och ekonomisk aktivitet, inklusive Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC), Brundtland Curve Hypothesis (BCH) och Environmental Daly Curve (EDC).</p>