The political economy of Swedish absolutism, 1789-1809

This article examines the connections between struggles over fiscal institutions and political change in Sweden during the period 17891809. The political situation was characterized by a divided fiscal authority: the absolute king controlled how resources were spent while the Diet controlled the operations of the Bank of Sweden and the National Debt Office. This division affected fiscal policies and how the country financed its wars. During the Napoleonic Wars, the king was unwilling to negotiate a deal with the Diet that relinquished his spending control in exchange for greater revenues to fight the war. As a consequence, he was unable to mobilize the necessary resources, which led to the loss of Finland and to his dethronement through a coup dtat organized by the elite in 1809