Minister of Commerce and Economic Policy-Making for Post-War Sweden, 1944–1947

Abstract

Leaving Arnold Rose behind to plug the last holes in the manuscript of An American Dilemma, Myrdal returned to Sweden in the autumn of 1942. He quickly re-engaged with Swedish politics. In 1943, he was re-elected to the seat for Dalarna in the Swedish Senate that he had vacated some 5 years earlier. He resumed this position in January 1944. He was also appointed to chair a Commission on Post-war Economic Planning. This body recommended that full employment should be the government’s paramount goal and urged that public spending on housing should be the primary instrument for balancing the economy to achieve this objective.¹