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IZA Discussion Paper No. 18664
May 2026
Beyond Startups: Sweden’s Scale-Up Challenge

This paper analyzes Sweden’s entrepreneurial performance from an institutional and evolutionary perspective, using the concept of the collaborative innovation bloc. It argues that economic development is driven not by entrepreneurial entry per se, but by the capacity of institutional arrangements to channel entrepreneurial effort into large-scale, productivity-enhancing activities. Sweden provides an instructive case: despite strong performance in innovation and start-up formation, the economy performs less well in turning young firms into globally competitive enterprises. The analysis emphasizes the complementarity between entrepreneurs and key actors - investors, skilled employees, and competent customers - and the role of institutional incentives in coordinating their interaction over time. While past reforms have improved conditions for entry, remaining distortions in taxation, labor market regulation, and capital allocation may bias outcomes toward early exit rather than sustained growth.

Communications
Mark Fallak
mark.fallak@liser.lu
+352 585-855-526
World of Labour
Olga Nottmeyer
olga.nottmeyer-ext@liser.lu
+352 585-855-501
Network Coordination
Christina Gathmann
christina.gathmann@liser.lu

The IZA@LISER Network is a global community of scholars dedicated to excellence in labor economics and related fields, now coordinated at the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER) following its transition from Bonn.

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