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This paper deals with the introduction of marital aggregation and income splitting in Sweden in 1952. It is demonstrated that actors such as political parties, employers and white-collar unions embraced income splitting because it mitigated the effects of wage moderation and progressive income tax for most wage-earners. In this respect, we recognise that the income splitting reform was made at the expense of married women with high incomes. This result relates to previous research which has noted that women´s organizations and politicians representing women´s interests have functioned as 'policy takers', rather than 'policy-makers', in the Scandinavian corporatist system.

In this article, we argue that the regulation of the explosives industry in Sweden between 1858 and 1948 can give a slightly different perspective on regulatory capture. In this case it was the upstart company, the Nobel Dynamite Company, and not the established explosives companies that in negotiation with the regulator succeeded in establishing new national regulations. Through three different cases we show that the method behind this successful capture was indirect and direct with a common trait of risk minimizing for the public that developed in cooperation with the regulator.

One debate within the varieties of capitalism approach deals with the significance of institutions below the national level. On the basis of a case study of the loan guarantee system, this article deals with the interaction between institutions and regional actors in Sweden during the formation of post-war regional development policy. We conclude that regional economic problems have been addressed through adaptation of national institutions. From an actor perspective, these results correspond with the revised VoC framework which emphasises that state institutions provide both a framework for business activities and a means for pursuing them.