Institutionel stagnation i hertugdømmet Slesvig 1840-1860

This article provides a study of the framework conditions for trade and industry in the Duchy of Schleswig in the middle of the 19th century. Grounded on theory of institutional economics the main argument of the paper is that Schleswig on a range of parameters suffered from stagnation in the development of the economy. The cause of this slowdown had to do with inertia in adaption of important institutional arrangement to the increasing complexity of trade and business. The study concludes that the Duchy, despite a seemingly favorable starting point, lost ground and that the institutional stagnation contributed negatively to the long-term, structural economic problems that showed itself under Prussian hegemony after 1864