This book brings together the results of fresh scholarly research to present a unique overview of the financial history of the Netherlands from the sixteenth century onwards. The Netherlands has always occupied a role in international finance way out of proportion with its geographical size. Since the eighteenth century, the country has been one of the largest exporters of capital in the world. In addition, several important financial innovations were pioneered in the Netherlands, such as a funded public debt, the famous Amsterdam Wisselbank, large public limited companies with transferable shares, and securitized international loans. The book shows the evolution of the Dutch financial system during nearly four and a half centuries, detailing the close interrelationship between currency policy, public finance, and banking.

Based on new datasets, this book presents an economic history of Indonesia. It analyses the causes of stagnation of growth during the colonial and independence period, making use of new theoretical insights from institutional economics and new growth theory. The book looks at the major themes of Indonesian history: colonial exploitation and the successes and limitations of the post 1900 welfare policies, the price of instability after 1945, and the economic miracle after 1967. The book not only discusses economic change and development - or the lack thereof - but also the institutional and socio-political structures that were behind these changes. It also presents a lot of new data on the changing welfare of the Indonesian population, on income distribution, and on the functioning of markets for rice, credit and labour. Concluding with a discussion on whether the poor profited from the economic changes, this book is a useful contribution to Southeast Asian Studies and International Economics.

This exciting new volume examines the development of market performance from Antiquity until the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Efficient market structures are agreed by most economists to serve as evidence of economic prosperity, and to be prerequisites for further economic growth. However, this is the first study to examine market performance as a whole, over such a large time period. Presenting a hitherto unknown and inaccessible corpus of data from ancient Babylonia, this international set of contributors are for the first time able to offer an in-depth study of market performance over a period of 2,500 years. The contributions focus on the market of staple crops, as they were crucial goods in these societies. Over this entire period, all papers provide a similar conceptual and methodological framework resting on a common definition of market performance combined with qualitative and quantitative analyses resting on new and improved price data. In this way, the book is able to combine analysis of the Babylonian period with similar work on the Roman, Early-and Late Medieval and Early Modern period. Bringing together input from assyriologists, ancient historians, economic historians and economists, this volume will be crucial reading for all those with an interest in ancient history, economic history and economics.

This new economic history of Indonesia analyzes in detail the long term development path of this, in terms of population size, fourth country of the world. Based on large new datasets, it analyses the causes of stagnation and growth during the colonial and independence period, making use of new theoretical insights from institutional economics and new growth theory. It deals with all the major themes of Indonesian history: colonial exploitation and the successes and limitations of the post 1900 welfare policies, the price of instability after 1945, and the economic miracle after 1967. The story about economic success and failure it embedded in an analysis of the changing political economy of the country, in both the period of colonial rule and the years of Independence after 1945. The book not only discusses economic change and development or the lack thereof but also the institutional and socio-political structures that were behind these changes. It also presents a lot of new data on the changing welfare of the Indonesian population, on income distribution, and on the functioning of markets for rice, credit and labour.

How has 'agency' - or the ability to define and act upon one's goals - contributed to global long-term economic development during the last 150 years? This book asserts that autonomous decision making, and female agency in particular, increases the potential of a society to generate economic growth and improve its institutions. Inspired by Amartya Sen's capabilities approach and looking at this in comparison to contemporary economic theory, the collection of chapters tackles the issue of agency from the micro level of household and family formation and asks how this applies to gender at regional and state level. It brings to the fore new empirical data from across the globe to test the links between family systems, female agency, human capital formation, political institutions and economic development and puts these into broader historical context. It will appeal to scholars researching social policy, gender studies, economic history, development studies and philosophy, as well anyone with interests in the long-term societal development of the world economy and issues of global inequality.

How has 'agency' - or the ability to define and act upon one's goals - contributed to global long-term economic development during the last 150 years? This book asserts that autonomous decision making, and female agency in particular, increases the potential of a society to generate economic growth and improve its institutions. Inspired by Amartya Sen's capabilities approach and looking at this in comparison to contemporary economic theory, the collection of chapters tackles the issue of agency from the micro level of household and family formation and asks how this applies to gender at regional and state level. It brings to the fore new empirical data from across the globe to test the links between family systems, female agency, human capital formation, political institutions and economic development and puts these into broader historical context. It will appeal to scholars researching social policy, gender studies, economic history, development studies and philosophy, as well anyone with interests in the long-term societal development of the world economy and issues of global inequality.

This exciting new volume examines the development of market performance from Antiquity until the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Efficient market structures are agreed by most economists to serve as evidence of economic prosperity, and to be prerequisites for further economic growth. However, this is the first study to examine market performance as a whole, over such a large time period. Presenting a hitherto unknown and inaccessible corpus of data from ancient Babylonia, this international set of contributors are for the first time able to offer an in-depth study of market performance over a period of 2,500 years. The contributions focus on the market of staple crops, as they were crucial goods in these societies. Over this entire period, all papers provide a similar conceptual and methodological framework resting on a common definition of market performance combined with qualitative and quantitative analyses resting on new and improved price data. In this way, the book is able to combine analysis of the Babylonian period with similar work on the Roman, Early-and Late Medieval and Early Modern period. Bringing together input from assyriologists, ancient historians, economic historians and economists, this volume will be crucial reading for all those with an interest in ancient history, economic history and economics.

How women increasingly became economic agents in early modern Europe is the focus of this stimulating book, which highlights how female agency was crucial for understanding the development of the Western European economy and sheds light on economic development today. Jan Luiten van Zanden, Tine De Moor and Sarah Carmichael argue that over centuries a "European Marriage Pattern" developed, characterized by high numbers of singles among men and women, high marriage ages among men and women, and neolocality, where the couple forms a new nuclear household and did not co-reside with the parents of either bride or groom. This was due to the influence of the Catholic Church's teachings of marriage based on consensus, the rise of labor markets, and institutions concerning property transfers between generations that enhanced wage labor by women. Over time an unprecedented demographic regime was created and embedded in a highly commercial environment in which households interacted frequently with labor, capital and commodity markets. This was one of the main causes of the gradual move away from a Malthusian state towards an economy able to generate long-term economic growth. The authors explore how the pattern was influenced by and influenced female human capital formation, access to the capital market, and participation in the labor market. They use numerous measures of economic activity, including the unique "Girlpower-Index" that measures the average age at first marriage of women minus the spousal age gap, with higher absolute age at marriage and lower spousal age gap both indicating greater female agency and autonomy. The book also examines how this measure can increase understanding of contemporary dynamics of women and the economy. The authors thus shed light on the degree to which women are allowed to play an influential role in and on the economy and society, which varies greatly from one society to another.

This book brings together the results of fresh scholarly research to present a unique overview of the financial history of the Netherlands from the sixteenth century onwards. The Netherlands has always occupied a role in international finance way out of proportion with its geographical size. Since the eighteenth century, the country has been one of the largest exporters of capital in the world. In addition, several important financial innovations were pioneered in the Netherlands, such as a funded public debt, the famous Amsterdam Wisselbank, large public limited companies with transferable shares, and securitized international loans. The book shows the evolution of the Dutch financial system during nearly four and a half centuries, detailing the close interrelationship between currency policy, public finance, and banking.

New approaches in economic, social, labour and institutional history have re-examined guilds - not least within the framework of a re-appraisal of the classic distinction between the "capitalist" and "pre-capitalist" modes of production. These fresh approaches are unravelling the reasons why guilds were established, and why they could maintain themselves so long. International comparisons have fostered this rejuvenation of guild studies; awareness is growing that guilds are not just a European phenomenon, but have been prominent all over Northern Africa and the Middle East, as well as in many parts of Asia, including China and Japan. This volume attempts to set up a comparative framework to analyse the functioning of guilds from West to East, in the period between Classical Antiquity and the Industrial Revolution.

For better or for worse, in recent times the rapid growth of international economic exchange has changed our lives. But when did this process of globalization begin, and what effects did it have on economies and societies? Pim de Zwart and Jan Luiten van Zanden argue that the networks of trade established after the voyages of Columbus and Da Gama of the late fifteenth century had transformative effects inaugurating the first era of globalization. The global flows of ships, people, money and commodities between 1500 and 1800 were substantial, and the re-alignment of production and distribution resulting from these connections had important consequences for demography, well-being, state formation and the long-term economic growth prospects of the societies involved in the newly created global economy. Whether early globalization had benign or malignant effects differed by region, but the world economy as we now know it originated in these changes in the early modern period.

Recently, a growing body of work on "law and finance" and "legal origins" has highlighted the role of formal legal institutions in shaping financial institutions. However, these writings have focused largely on Europe, neglecting important non-Western traditions that prevail in a large part of the world. "Law and Long-Term Economic Change" brings together a group of leading scholars from economics, economic history, law, and area studies to develop a unique, global and, long-term perspective on the linkage between law and economic change.
Covering the regions of Western Europe, East and South Asia, and the Middle East, the chapters explore major themes regarding the nature and evolution of different legal regimes; their relationship with the state or organized religion; the definition and interpretation of ownership and property rights; the functioning of courts, and other mechanisms for dispute resolution and contract enforcement; and the complex dynamics of legal transplantations through processes such as colonization. The text makes clear that the development of legal traditions and institutions--as embodiments of cultural values and norms--exerts a strong effect on long-term economic change. And it demonstrates that a good understanding of legal origins around the world enriches any debate about Great Divergence in the early modern era, as well as development and underdevelopment in 19th-20th century Eurasia.

How medieval Dutch society laid the foundations for modern capitalism The Netherlands was one of the pioneers of capitalism in the Middle Ages, giving rise to the spectacular Dutch Golden Age while ushering in an era of unprecedented, long-term economic growth across Europe. Pioneers of Capitalism examines the informal institutions in the Netherlands that made this economic miracle possible, providing a groundbreaking new history of the emergence and early development of capitalism. Drawing on the latest quantitative theories in economic research, Maarten Prak and Jan Luiten van Zanden show how Dutch cities, corporations, guilds, commons, and other private and semipublic organizations provided safeguards for market transactions in the state's absence. Informal institutions developed in the Netherlands long before the state created public safeguards for economic activity. Prak and van Zanden argue that, in the Netherlands itself, capitalism emerged within a robust civil society that constrained and counterbalanced its centrifugal forces, but that an unrestrained capitalism ruled in the overseas territories. Rather than collapsing under unrestricted greed, the Dutch economy flourished, but prosperity at home came at the price of slavery and other dire consequences for people outside Europe. Pioneers of Capitalism offers a panoramic account of the early history of capitalism, revealing how a small region of medieval Europe transformed itself into a powerhouse of sustained economic growth, and changed the world in the process.

A major feat of research and synthesis, this book presents the first comprehensive history of the Dutch economy in the nineteenth century--an important but poorly understood piece of European economic history. Based on a detailed reconstruction of extensive economic data, the authors account for demise of the Dutch economy's golden age. After showing how institutional factors combined to make the Dutch economy a victim of its own success, the book traces its subsequent emergence as a modern industrial economy.

Between 1780 and 1914, the Netherlands went through a double transition. Its economy--which, in the words of Adam Smith, was approaching a "stationary state" in the eighteenth century--entered a process of modern economic growth during the middle decades of the nineteenth. At the same time, the country's sociopolitical structure was undergoing radical transformation as the decentralized polity of the republic gave way to a unitary state. As the authors show, the dramatic transformation of the Dutch political structure was intertwined with equally radical changes in the institutional structure of the economy. The outcome of this dual transition was a rapidly industrializing economy on one side and, on the other, the neocorporatist sociopolitical structure that would characterize the Netherlands in the twentieth century.

Analyzing both processes with a focus on institutional change, this book argues that the economic and political development of the Netherlands can be understood only in tandem.

For better or for worse, in recent times the rapid growth of international economic exchange has changed our lives. But when did this process of globalization begin, and what effects did it have on economies and societies? Pim de Zwart and Jan Luiten van Zanden argue that the networks of trade established after the voyages of Columbus and Da Gama of the late fifteenth century had transformative effects inaugurating the first era of globalization. The global flows of ships, people, money and commodities between 1500 and 1800 were substantial, and the re-alignment of production and distribution resulting from these connections had important consequences for demography, well-being, state formation and the long-term economic growth prospects of the societies involved in the newly created global economy. Whether early globalization had benign or malignant effects differed by region, but the world economy as we now know it originated in these changes in the early modern period.