FOREST WEALTH POWER - A SYSTEM OVERVIEW O F THE SWEDISH ECONOMY AROUND 1650

In the preceeding issue of this journal the historical developments in Europe and Sweden as well as the production basis for Sweden's aggres sive policy was presented. This second part presents a systems analysi s of the Swedish economy in the 1650s and her exchange with the rest o f Europe by trade and warfare. In a first step the production is estim ated in physical units as tons of metal, volume of wood and charcoal, soldiers, ships etc. These figures are then converted to solar energy joule, sej, using derived transformities for each item. The transformi ty of an object is the equivalent solar energy required to generate it . The approach is based on the work by ODUM (1983, 1988, 1994), a syst ems theory evolving from his systems ecology. All factors are measured in one and the same unit, sej, and the exchange between Sweden and th e rest of Europe by trade and military operations is computed. The bal ance sheet shows a considerable deficit for Sweden in the trade, furth er increased by military operations. The study is a novel macro-econom ic approach, complementary to traditional theories and methods in hist ory. It could be viewed as ''Energy Systems Ecology of History''.