University of Toronto http://www.economics.utoronto.ca/munro5/
READINGS: all readings listed in chronological order of original publication.
A. The 'Decline of the Netherlands' and 'the Failure to Industrialize': the Debate in Monographs and Journal Articles
** 1. Charles Wilson, 'The Economic Decline of the Netherlands,' Economic History Review, 1st ser. 9 (1939); reprinted in:
(a) E.M. Carus-Wilson, ed., Essays in Economic History, Vol. I (London, 1954), pp. 254-69.
** (b) Charles Wilson, Economic History and the Historian: Collected Essays (London, 1969), pp. 22-47. [N.B. This is a revised version, and the one that should be read].
2. Johann De Vries, De economische achteruitgang der Republiek in de achttiende eeuw (Amsterdam, 1959). [The economic decline of the Republic in the eighteenth century: the most thorough study -- for those who read Dutch.]
* 3. C.R. Boxer, 'The 'Golden Century' and the 'Periweg Period',' in The Dutch Seaborne Empire, 1600-1800 (London, 1965), chapter 10, pp. 268-94; republished as:
'The Dutch Economic Decline,' in Carlo Cipolla, ed., The Economic Decline of Empires (London, 1970), pp. 253-63.
* 4. Ivo Schöffer, 'Did Holland's Golden Age Coincide with a Period of Crisis,' Acta Historiae Neerlandica, 1 (1966); reprinted in Geoffrey Parker and L.M. Smith, eds., The General Crisis of the Seventeenth Century (London, 1978), pp. 83-111.
5. J.A. Faber, 'The Decline of the Baltic Grain Trade in the Second Half of the Seventeenth Century,' Acta Historiae Neerlandica, 1 (1966), 108 - 31.
** 6. Charles Wilson, 'Taxation and the Decline of Empires: An Unfashionable Theme,' in Charles Wilson, Economic History and the Historian: Collected Essays (1969), pp. 114-27. Published for the first time in this volume; but first presented as a lecture to the Historical Assocation at Utrecht, 2 Nov. 1962.
7. Ralph Davis, The Rise of the Atlantic Economies (London, 1973), chapter 11, pp. 190-93. Very brief summary only.
* 8. J.G. Van Dillen, 'Economic Fluctuations and Trade in the Netherlands, 1650-1750,' in Peter Earle, ed., Essays in European Economic History, 1500-1800 (London, 1974), pp. 199-211. Translation, by Alice Carter and Sytha Harte, of chapter 23 of Van rijkdom en regenten (The Hague, 1970).
* 9. Joel Mokyr, 'The Industrial Revolution in the Low Countries in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century: A Comparative Case Study,' The Journal of Economic History, 34 (1974), 365-91.
* 10. Frederick Krantz and Paul M. Hohenberg, eds., Failed Transitions to Modern Industrial Society: Renaissance Italy and Seventeenth-Century Holland (Montreal, Interuniversity Centre for European Studies, 1975).
(a) David Ormrod, 'Dutch Commercial and Industrial Decline and British Growth in the Late Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries,' pp. 36-43.
(b) K.W. Swart, 'Holland's Bourgeoisie and the Retarded Industrialization of the Netherlands,' pp. 44-48.
(c) E.H. Kossmann, 'Some Meditations on Dutch Eighteenth-Century Decline,' pp. 49-54.
(d) Commentaries by Jan De Vries, K.H.D. Haley, J.W. Smit, D. Ormrod, K.W. Swart, and E.H. Kossmann, pp. 55-68.
* 11. Simon Schama, 'The Exigencies of War and the Politics of Taxation in the Netherlands, 1795-1810,' in J.M. Winter, ed., War and Economic Development: Essays in Memory of David Joslin (London, 1975), pp. 103-38.
12. Joel Mokyr, Industrialization in the Low Countries, 1795-1850 (New Haven, 1976), chapters 1, 3, 5, and 6, esp. pp. 1-8, 83-98, 124-32, 168-88. Mokyr explores reasons why Belgium industrialized in the first half of the nineteenth century, while the neighbouring Netherlands did not.
13. Peter Jansen, 'Poverty in Amsterdam at the Close of the Eighteenth Century,' Acta Historiae Neerlandicae, 10 (1978), 98-114.
14. Richard T. Griffiths, Industrial Retardation in the Netherlands, 1830 - 1850 (The Hague, 1979).
** 15. Jan De Vries, 'The Decline and Rise of the Dutch Economy, 1675 - 1900,' in Gary Saxonhouse and Gavin Wright, eds., Technique, Spirit, and Form in the Making of the Modern Economies: Essays in Honor of William N. Parker (Research in Economic History: A Research Annual, Supplement no. 3; Greenwich, Conn., 1984), pp. 149 - 89.
** 16. James C. Riley, 'The Dutch Economy After 1650: Decline or Growth?' The Journal of European Economic History, 13 (Winter 1984), 521 - 69.
** 18. Jonathan I. Israel, Dutch Primacy in World Trade, 1585 - 1740 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989).
19. H. Diedriks, 'Economic Decline and the Urban Elite in Eighteenth-Century Dutch Towns: A Review Essay,' Urban History Yearbook (1989), pp. 78-81.
20. Wantje Fritschy, 'Taxation in Britain, France, and the Netherlands in the Eighteenth Century,' Economic and Social History in the Netherlands, 2 (1990).
21. Jan L. Van Zanden, The Rise and Decline of Holland's Economy: Merchant Capitalism and the Labour Market (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1993).
22. Edwin Horlings and Ronald van der Bie, 'Dutch Economic Development and International Trade: A Small Open Economy in an Ever Changing World,' in Michael North, ed., Nordwesteuropa in der Weltwirtschaft, 1750 - 1950/ Northwestern Europe in the World Economy, 1750 - 1950, Beiträge zur Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte, vol. 54 (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1993), pp. 129-61.
** 23. Jan De Vries and Ad Van der Woude, Nederland 1500 - 1815: De eerste ronde van moderne economische groei (Amsterdam: Balans, 1995); republished in English translation as The First Modern Economy: Growth, Decline, and Perserverance of the Dutch Economy, 1500 - 1815 (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996).
24. Arthur Van Riel, 'Rethinking the Economic History of the Dutch Republic: The Rise and Decline of Economic Modernity Before the Advent of Industrialized Growth,' Journal of Economic History, 56:1 (March 1996), 223-29. A review article, reviewing the above book.
B. The Dutch Economy in the 17th and 18th Centuries: the Era of the 'Golden Age' and of 'Economic Decline'
* 1. Violet Barbour, 'Dutch and English Merchant Shipping in the Seventeenth Century,' Economic History Review, 1st Ser. 2 (1930); reprinted in E.M. Carus-Wilson, ed., Essays in Economic History, Vol. I (London, 1954), pp. 227-53.
2. J.G. Van Dillen, 'The Bank of Amsterdam,' in J.G. Van Dillen, ed., The History of the Principal Public Banks (The Hague, 1934; reprinted in 1964), pp. 79-124.
3. Charles Wilson, Anglo-Dutch Commerce and Finance in the Eighteenth Century (London, 1941; rev. ed. New York) pp. 16-27, 167-204.
4. Aksel Christensen, Dutch Trade to the Baltic About 1600: Studies in the Sound Toll Registers and Dutch Shipping Records (Copenhagen, 1941), pp. 17-24, 34-48, 401-21.
5. S.T. Bindoff, The Scheldt Question to 1839 (London, 1945).
* 6. Violet Barbour, Capitalism in Amsterdam in the Seventeenth Century (Baltimore, 1950), chapter 7: 'Characteristics of Amsterdam Capitalism,' pp. 130-42.
7. Eli Heckscher, Economic History of Sweden (Cambridge, Mass. 1954).
* 8. Ralph Davis, 'Merchant Shipping in the Late Seventeenth Century,' Economic History Review, 2nd ser. 9 (1956), 59-73.
9. Charles Wilson, Profit and Power: The Anglo-Dutch Wars of the Seventeenth Century (London, 1957).
10. W.S. Unger, 'Trade Through the Sound in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries,' Economic History Review, 2nd Ser. 12 (1959).
11. Charles Wilson, 'Cloth Production and International Competition in the Seventeenth Century,' Economic History Review, 2nd ser. 13 (1960), 209-21, reprinted in his Economic History and the Historian: Collected Essays (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1969), pp. 94-113.
12. J.S. Bromley and E.H. Kossman, eds., Britain and the Netherlands, 4 vols. (London, 1960-71).
13. D.W. Davies, A Primer of Dutch Seventeenth-Century Overseas Trade (London, 1961), Chapters 1, 2, 6, 8, and 16. Easily read, but generally superficial, lacking in analysis. Chapter 1 on the herring fisheries, however, is worth reading.
14. Pieter Geyl, The Netherlands in the Seventeenth Century, 1609-1648 (London, 1961), especially Chapter 3.
15. Birgitta Oden, 'A Netherlands Merchant in Stockholm in the Reign of Erik XIV,' Scandinavian Economic History Review, 10 (1962).
16. George Masselman, The Cradle of Colonialism (1963), pp. 1-61.
* 17. J.A. Faber, 'The Decline of the Baltic Grain Trade in the Second Half of the Seventeenth Century,' A.A.G. Bijdragen, 9 (1963); reprinted in Acta Historiae Neerlandica, 1 (1966), 108-31.
18. Charles Wilson, England's Apprenticeship, 1603-1763 (London, 1965), chapter 13: 'Trade, Policy, and War,' pp. 263-87.
19. C.R. Boxer, The Dutch Seaborne Empire, 1600-1800 (London, 1965), Chapters 1-3, pp. 1-83 in particular. See also chapter 10: 'The 'Golden Century' and the 'Periweg Period', pp. 268-94, which has been republished as: 'The Dutch Economic Decline,' in Carlo Cipolla, ed., The Economic Decline of Empires (London, 1970), pp. 253-63.
* 20. Ivo Schöffer, 'Did Holland's Golden Age Coincide with a Period of Crisis?' Acta Historiae Neerlandica, 1 (1966), 82-107 [translated from the original Dutch article appearing in Bijdragen en mededelingen van het historisch genootschap, 78 (1964), 45-72]. English version reprinted in Geoffrey Parker and L.M. Smith, eds., The General Crisis of the Seventeenth Century (London, 1978), pp. 83-111.
21. Jellie C. Riemersma, Religious Factors in Early Dutch Capitalism, 1550-1650 (1967).
22. Charles Wilson, The Dutch Republic and the Civilization of the Seventeenth Century (New York, 1968), chapter 13: 'Decline', pp. 230-44. A good summary.
** 23. Charles Wilson, 'Taxation and the Decline of Empires: An Unfashionable Theme,' in Charles Wilson, Economic History and the Historian: Collected Essays (1969), pp. 114-27. Published for the first time in this volume; but first presented as a lecture to the Historical Assocation at Utrecht, 2 Nov. 1962.
24. J.G. Van Dillen, Van rijkdom en regenten: handboek tot de economische en sociale geschiedenis van Nederland tijdens de Republiek (The Hague, 1970). Chapter 23 has been translated and arranged by Alice Carter and Sytha Hart, as 'Economic Fluctuations and Trade in the Netherlands, 1650-1750,' in Peter Earle, ed., Essays in European Economic History, 1500-1800 (London, 1970), pp. 199-211.
25. K.H.D. Haley, The Dutch in the Seventeenth Century (London, 1972), chapter 3, 'The Beginnings of the Decline?', pp. 175-93.
26. Herbert H. Rowen, ed., The Low Countries in Early Modern Times: A Documentary History (New York, 1972), especially Section VII.
* 27. Ralph Davis, The Rise of the Atlantic Economies (London, 1973): Chapter 11, 'Rise of the Dutch Commercial Empire,' pp. 176-93.
* 28. Richard Unger, 'Dutch Ship Design in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries,' Viator, 4 (1973), 387-412.
29. Richard Unger, 'Selling Dutch Ships in the Sixteenth Century,' Maritime History, 3 (1973), 125-46.
** 29. Jan De Vries, 'On the Modernity of the Dutch Republic,' Journal of Economic History, 33 (1973), 191-202.
* 30. Maria Bogucka, 'Amsterdam and the Baltic in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century,' Economic History Review, 2nd Ser. 26 (1973), 433-47.
31. Artur Attman, The Russian and Polish Markets in International Trade, 1500-1650 (Goteborg, 1973), pp. 119-88.
32. Peter Burke, Venice and Amsterdam: A Study of Seventeenth-Century Elites (London, 1974), pp. 48-61, 101-04.
* 33. J.G. Van Dillen, 'Economic Fluctuations and Trade in the Netherlands, 1650-1750,' in Peter Earle, ed., Essays in European Economic History, 1500-1800 (London, 1974), pp. 199-211. Translation, by Alice Carter and Sytha Harte, of chapter 23 of Van rijkdom en regenten: handboek tot de economische en sociale geschiedenis van Nederland tijdens de Republiek (The Hague, 1970).
34. Niels Steensgaard, The Asian Trade Revolution of the Seventeenth Century: The East India Companies and the Decline of the Caravan Trade (London, 1974), Chapters 3, 4, and 10. (Factually very useful, but boring).
* 35. Jan De Vries, The Dutch Rural Economy in the Golden Age, 1500-1700 (New Haven, 1974), Chapters 3, 4, 6, and 7, especially pp. 119-73 (in Chapter 4, 'Transformation of the Rural Economy').
36. Richard Unger, 'Regulations of Dutch Shipcarpenters in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries,' Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis, 87 (1974), 503-20.
37. Richard Unger, 'Technology and Industrial Organization: Dutch Shipbuilding to 1800,' Business History, 17 (1975), 56-72.
38. Alice Clare Carter, Getting, Spending, and Investing in Early Modern Times: Essays on Dutch, English, and Huguenot Economic History (Assen, 1975). Especially essays nos. 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, and 12.
* 39. Frederick Krantz and Paul M. Hohenberg, eds., Failed Transitions to Modern Industrial Society: Renaissance Italy and Seventeenth-Century Holland (Montreal, Interuniversity Centre for European Studies, 1975).
(a) David Ormrod, 'Dutch Commercial and Industrial Decline and British Growth in the Late Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries,' pp. 36-43.
(b) K.W. Swart, 'Holland's Bourgeoisie and the Retarded Industrialization of the Netherlands,' pp. 44-48.
(c) E.H. Kossmann, 'Some Meditations on Dutch Eighteenth-Century Decline,' pp. 49-54.
(d) Commentaries by Jan De Vries, K.H.D. Haley, J.W. Smit, D. Ormrod, K.W. Swart, and E.H. Kossmann, pp. 55-68.
* 40. Simon Schama, 'The Exigencies of War and the Politics of Taxation in the Netherlands, 1795-1810,' in J.M. Winter, ed., War and Economic Development: Essays in Memory of David Joslin (London, 1975), pp. 103-38.
41. J.A. Van Houtte, An Economic History of the Low Countries, 800-1800 (London, 1977), Part Four: 'Towards a New Equilibrium, 1670-1800', pp. 257-318, esp. pp. 270-96.
42. Charles Wilson and Geoffrey Parker, Introduction to the Sources of European Economic History 1500-1800 (London, 1977), Chapter 4, 'The Low Countries,' pp. 81-114.
43. Richard Unger, Dutch Shipbuilding Before 1800: Ships and Guilds (Gorcum, 1978).
44. Peter Jansen, 'Poverty in Amsterdam at the Close of the Eighteenth Century,' Acta Historiae Neerlandicae, 10 (1978), 98-114.
45. H. K. Roessingh, 'Tobacco Growing in Holland in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: A Case Study of the Innovative Spirit of Dutch Peasants,' The Low Countries History Yearbook, 11 (1978), 18-54.
46. Jan De Vries, 'An Inquiry into the Behaviour of Wages in the Dutch Republic and the Southern Netherlands, 1580-1800,' Acta Historia Neerlandicae, 10 (1978), 79-97. Reprinted in Maurice Aymard, ed., Dutch Capitalism and World Capitalism (1982), pp. 37-62.
47. Jan De Vries, 'Barges and Capitalism: Passenger Transportation in the Dutch economy, 1632 - 1839,' Afdeling agrarische geschiedenis bijdragen (Landbouwhogeschool, Wageningen), 21 (1978), 33 - 398. Republished as a monograph, as Barges and Capitalism: Passenger Transportation in the Dutch Economy, 1632-1839 (Utrecht, 1981).
48. Fernand Braudel, Le temps du monde (Paris: Libraire Armand Colin, 1979). Translated by Sian Reynolds and republished as Civilization and Capitalism, 15th - 18th Centuries, Vol. III: The Perspective of the World (New York, 1984): chapter 3, 'The City-Centred Economies of the Past: Amsterdam,' pp. 175 - 279. ('On the Decline of Amsterdam,' pp. 266-79).
49. Artur Attman, The Struggle for Baltic Markets: Powers in Conflict (Goteborg, 1979).
50. David B. Grigg, Population Growth and Agrarian Change: An Historical Perspective (Cambridge, 1980), chapter 12: 'Holland in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,' pp. 147-62.
51. Immanuel Wallerstein, The Modern World System, Vol. II: Mercantilism and the Consolidation of the European World-Economy, 1600-1750, 'Dutch Hegemony in the Seventeenth-Century World-Economy,' pp. 36-73. Reprinted in Maurice Aymard, ed., Dutch Capitalism and World Capitalism (1982), pp. 93 - 146; see also (in Wallerstein) chapter 3, 'Struggle in the Core-- Phase II: 1689 - 1763,' pp. 244 - 89.
* 52. James Riley, International Government Finance and the Amsterdam Capital Market, 1740-1815 (Cambridge University Press, 1980).
* 53. Richard Unger, 'Dutch Herring, Technology, and International Trade in the Seventeenth Century,' Journal of Economic History, 40 (1980), 353-80.
54. Maria Bogucka, 'The Role of Baltic Trade in European Development from the XVIth to the XVIIIth Centuries,' Journal of European Economic History, 9 (1980), 5-20.
55. Jan De Vries, Barges and Capitalism: Passenger Transportation in the Dutch Economy, 1632 - 1839 (Utrecht, 1981).
56. Dietmar Rothermund, Asian Trade and European Expansion in the Age of Mercantilism, Perspectives in History, Vol.I (New Delhi: Manohar, 1981).
57. Richard Unger, 'Dutch Shipbuilding and International Competition in the Golden Age,' History Today, 31 (April 1981), 16-21.
58. Richard Unger, 'The Dutch Coal Trade in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries,' Mededelingen van de Nederlandse Vereniging voor Zeegeschiedenis, 43 (1981), 6-14; republished in Richard W. Unger, Ships and Shipping in the North Sea and Atlantic, 1400 - 1800, Variorum Collected Series CS 601 (Aldershot and Brookfield, Vt., Ashgate, 1997).
59. Jonathan I. Israel, The Dutch Republic and the Hispanic World, 1606 - 1661 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982).
* 60. Maurice Aymard, ed., Dutch Capitalism and World Capitalism (Cambridge University Press, 1982). A collection of essays by various scholars:
(a) Jean-Claude Boyer, 'Le capitalisme hollandais et l'organisation de l'espace dans les Provinces-Unies,' pp. 13-22.
(b) B.H. Slicher-Van Bath, 'The Economic Situation in the Dutch Republic during the Seventeenth Century,' pp. 23-36.
(c) Jan De Vries, 'An Inquiry into the Behavior of Wages in the Dutch Republic and the Southern Netherlands from 1580 to 1800,' pp. 37-62.
(d) Peter Klein, 'Dutch Capitalism and the European World-Economy,' pp. 75-92.
(e) Immanuel Wallerstein, 'Dutch Hegemony in the Seventeenth-Century World-Economy,' pp. 93-146.
(f) Pierre Jeannin, 'Les interdépendances économiques dans le champ d'action européen des Hollandais, XVIe-XVIIIe siècle,' pp. 147-70.
(g) Charles Carrier, 'Image du capitalisme hollandais au XVIIIe siècles: le miroir marseillais,' pp. 171-96.
(h) Ivo Schöffer and F.S. Gaastra, 'The Import of Bullion and Coin into Asia by the Dutch East India Company in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries,' pp. 215-34.
(i) Niels Steensgaard, 'The Dutch East India Company as an Institutional Innovation,' pp. 235-58.
(j) Denys Lombard, 'Le capitalisme hollandais 'vu de l'Est'', pp. 259-72.
61. F.S. Gaastra, 'The Export of Precious Metal from Europe to Asia by the Dutch East India Company, 1602-1795,' in John F. Richards, ed., Precious Metals in the Later Medieval and Early Modern Worlds (Durham, N.C., 1983), pp. 447-76.
62. Artur Attman, Dutch Enterprise in the World Bullion Trade, 1550-1800 (Goteborg, 1983), pp. 17-44, 58-103.
63. Johanna Maria Van Winter, ed., The Interactions of Amsterdam and Antwerp with the Baltic Region, 1400 - 1800 (De Nederlanden en het Oostzeegebied, 1400 - 1800), Het Nederlandsch Economisch-Historisch Archief no. 16 (Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff, 1983). See especially the following essays:
a) R. W. Unger, 'The Integration of Baltic and Low Countries Grain Markets, 1400 - 1800,' pp. 1- 10.
b) Michel Morineau, 'Le commerce de la Baltique dans ses rapports avec le commerce hors de la Baltique,' pp. 31 - 42.
c) Maria Bogucka, 'The Baltic and Amsterdam in the First Half of the 17th Century,' pp. 51 -58.
d) K. Newman, 'Anglo-Dutch Commercial Co-operation and the Russia Trade in the Eighteenth Century,' pp. 95 - 104.
e) J.T. Lindblad and P. De Buck, 'Shipmasters in the Shipping Between Amsterdam and the Baltic, 1722 - 1780,' pp. 133-52.
f) C. Ahlström, 'Aspects of Commercial Shipping between St. Petersburg and Western Europe, 1750 - 1790,' pp. 153-60.
g) H. C. Johansen, 'Ships and Cargoes in the Traffic Between the Baltic and Amsterdam in the Late Eighteenth Century,' pp. 161 - 70.
h) W. E. Minchinton and D. Starkey, 'British Shipping, the Netherlands, and the Baltic, 1784 - 1795,' pp. 181 - 92.
* 64. James C. Riley, 'The Dutch Economy After 1650: Decline or Growth?' The Journal of European Economic History, 13 (Winter 1984), pp. 521-70.
** 65. Jan De Vries, 'The Decline and Rise of the Dutch Economy, 1675 - 1900,' in Gary Saxonhouse and Gavin Wright, eds., Technique, Spirit, and Form in the Making of the Modern Economies: Essays in Honor of William N. Parker (Research in Economic History: A Research Annual, Supplement no. 3; Greenwich, Conn., 1984), pp. 149 - 89.
66. Fernand Braudel, Civilization and Capitalism, 15th - 18th Centuries, Vol. 3: The Perspective of the World (trans. Sian Reynolds, New York, 1984), chapter 3, 'The City-Centred Economies of the Past: Amsterdam,' pp. 175 - 279. ('On the Decline of Amsterdam,' pp. 266-79).
67. J. B. Collins, 'The Role of Atlantic France in the Baltic Trade: Dutch Traders and Polish Grain at Nantes, 1625-1675,' Journal of European Economic History, 13 (Fall 1984), 239-89.
68. Woodruff D. Smith, 'The Function of Commercial Centers in the Modernization of European Capitalism: Amsterdam as an Information Exchange in the Seventeenth Century,' Journal of Economic History, 44 (Dec. 1984), 985-1005.
69. Richard Unger, 'Energy Sources for the Dutch Golden Age: Peat, Wind, and Coal,' Research in Economic History, 9 (1984), 221-53.
70. Jan De Vries, 'The Population and Economy of the Preindustrial Netherlands ,' The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 15 (Spring 1985), 661 - 82.
71. J. Bieleman, 'Rural Change in the Dutch Province of Drenthe in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries,' The Agricultural History Review, 33 (1985), 105-17.
72. Richard Unger, 'Dutch Design Specialization and Building Methods in the Seventeenth Century,' in Carl O. Cederlund, ed., Postmedieval Boat and Ship Archaeology (Oxford: British Archeological Reports, 1985), pp. 153-64. Republished in Richard W. Unger, Ships and Shipping in the North Sea and Atlantic, 1400 - 1800, Variorum Collected Series CS 601 (Aldershot and Brookfield, Vt., Ashgate, 1997).
73. Richard Unger, 'Design and Construction of European Warships in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries,' in M. Acerra, J. Merino, and J. Meyer, eds., Les marines de guerres européennes, XVII-XVIIIe siècles (Paris, 1986), pp. 21-34. Republished in Richard W. Unger, Ships and Shipping in the North Sea and Atlantic, 1400 - 1800, Variorum Collected Series CS 601 (Aldershot and Brookfield, Vt., Ashgate, 1997).
74. Leo Nordgraaf, ed., Agrarische geschiedenis van Nederland van prehistorie te heden (The Hague, 1986).
75. Simon Schama, The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age (London, 1986).
76. Larry Neal, 'The Integration and Efficiency of the London and Amsterdam Stock Markets in the Eighteenth Century,' Journal of Economic History, 47 (March 1987), 97 - 115.
77. Herman Van der Wee, ed., The Rise and Decline of Urban Industries in Italy and in the Low Countries: Late Middle Ages - Early Modern Times (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1988). For the Low Countries, see Part II:
(a) Jean-Paul Peeters, 'De-Industrialization in the Small and Medium-Sized Towns in Brabant at the End of the Middle Ages. A Case-Study: the Cloth Industry of Tienen,' pp. 165 - 86.
(b) J. Vermaut, 'Structural Transformation in a Textile Centre: Bruges from the Sixteenth to the Nineteenth Century,' pp. 187 - 206.
(c) A.K.L. Thijs, 'Structural Changes in the Antwerp Industry from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century,' pp. 207 - 212.
(d) R. De Peuter, 'Industrial Development and De-Industrialization in Pre-Modern Towns: Brussels from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century. A Provisional Survey,' pp. 213 - 40.
(e) Hugo Soly, 'Social Aspects of Structural Changes in the Urban Industries of Eighteenth-Century Brabant and Flanders,' pp. 241 - 60.
(f) Paul M. Klep, 'Urban Decline in Brabant: the Traditionalization of Investments and Labour (1374 - 1806),' pp. 261 - 87.
(g) H. Schmal, 'Patterns of De-Urbanization in the Netherlands between 1650 and 1850,' pp. 287 - 306.
(h) Herman Van der Wee, 'Industrial Dynamics and the Process of Urbanization and De-Urbanization in the Low Countries from the Late Middle Ages to the Eighteenth Century. A Synthesis,' pp. 307 - 81.
78. Richard Unger, 'Brewing in the Netherlands and the Baltic Grain Trade,' in W.G. Heeres, L.M. Hesp, L. Noordegraaf, and R.C. Van der Voort, eds., From Dunkirk to Danzig: Shipping and Trade in the North Sea and the Baltic, 1350 - 1850: Essays in Honor of J.A. Faber on the Occasion of His Retirement as Professor of Economic and Social History at the University of Amsterdam (Hilversum, 1988), pp. 429-46.
79. Richard Unger, 'The Trade in Beer to Medieval Scandinavia,' Deutsches Shiffahrtsarchiv, 11 (1988), 249-58.
80. Immanuel Wallerstein, The Modern World System, Vol. III: The Second Era of Great Expansion of the Capitalist World Economy, 1730 - 1840s (New York: Academic Press, 1989).
** 81. Jonathan I. Israel, Dutch Primacy in World Trade, 1585 - 1740 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989).
82. H. Diedriks, 'Economic Decline and the Urban Elite in Eighteenth-Century Dutch Towns: A Review Essay,' Urban History Yearbook (1989), pp. 78-81.
83. Wantje Fritschy, 'Taxation in Britain, France, and the Netherlands in the Eighteenth Century,' Economic and Social History in the Netherlands, 2 (1990).
84. Johannes M. Postma, The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1600-1815 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).
85. Larry Neal, The Rise of Financial Capitalism: International Capital Markets in the Age of Reason (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).
86. James D. Tracy, ed., The Rise of Merchant Empires: Long-Distance Trade in the Early Modern World, 1350 - 1750 (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990). See the following essays:
a) Niels Steensgaard, 'The Growth and Composition of the Long-Distance Trade of England and the Dutch Republic before 1750,' pp. 102 - 52.
b) Paul Butel, 'France, the Antilles, and Europe in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries: Renewals of Foreign Trade,' pp. 153 - 73.
c) Jaap Bruijn, 'Productivity, Profitability, and Costs of Private and Corporate Dutch Ship Owning in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries,' pp. 174 - 94.
d) Larry Neal, 'The Dutch and English East India Companies Compared: Evidence from the Stock and Foreign Exchange Markets,' pp. 195 - 223.
87. Richard Unger and Robert Allen, 'The Depth and Breadth of the Market for Polish Grain, 1500 - 1800,' in J.P.S. Lemmink and HJ.S.A. Van Koningsbrugge, eds., Baltic Affairs: Relations between the Netherlands and North-Eastern Europe, 1500-1800 (Nijmegen, 1990), pp. 1-18.
88. Richard Unger, 'The Technical Development of Shipbuilding and Government Policies in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries,' in Atti del V Convegno Internazionale di studi Colombiani navi e navigazioni nei secoli XV e XVI (Genoa, 1990), pp. 199-211.
89. Richard Unger, 'Dutch and Flemish Marine Paintings as a Source for Research on the History of Shipbuilding,' in Jan De Vries and D. Friedberg, eds., Art in History/History in Art (Santa Monica, 1991), pp. 75-93.
90. James Tracy, ed., The Political Economy of Merchant Empires: State Power and World Trade, 1350 - 1750 (Cambridge University Press, 1991). Unlike the previous volume, there are no specific essays on the Dutch; but many of the essays will provide useful general information and ideas for analyzing the Dutch commercial empire in early-modern Europe.
91. Richard Unger, 'The Tonnage of Europe's Merchant Fleets, 1300 - 1800,' The American Neptune, 52:4 (Fall 1992), 247-61.
92. Herman Van der Wee, The Low Countries in the Early Modern World, translated by Lisabeth Fackelman (London, Variorium, 1993). Collected essays.
a) 'The Low Countries in Transition: From the Middle Ages to Early Modern Times,' pp. 3-28. [From Ivo Schöffer, Herman Van der Wee, and J.A. Bornewasswer, eds., The Low Countries from 1500 to 1700 (Winkler Prins geschiedenis van de Nederlanden, Vol. II, Amsterdam-Brussels, 1977; 4th edn. 1988), pp. 11-37]
b) 'The Low Countries in Transition: From Commercial Capitalism to the Industrial Revolution,' pp. 29-43. [From Ivo Schöffer, Herman Van der Wee, and J.A. Bornewasswer, eds., The Low Countries from 1500 to 1700 (as Vol II of Winkler Prins geschiedenis van de Nederlanden, Amsterdam-Brussels, 1977; 4th edn. 1988), pp. 425-38.]
c) 'Agricultural Development of the Low Countries as Revealed by Tithe and Rent Statistics, 1250 - 1800,' pp. 47-68. [From Herman Van der Wee and Eddy Van Cauwenberghe, eds., Productivity of Land and Agricultural Innovation in the Low Countries, 1250 - 1800 (Leuven, 1978), pp. 1-23.]
d) (with Eddy Van Cauwenberghe) 'Agrarian History and Public Finances in Flanders, 14th to 17th Century,' pp. 69-83. [From Annales: Économies, sociétés, civilisations, 28 (1973), 1051-64.]
93. Seten E. Oppers, 'The Interest Rate Effect of Dutch Money in Eighteenth-Century Britain,' The Journal of Economic History, 53 (March 1993), 25 - 43.
* 94. Jan L. Van Zanden, The Rise and Decline of Holland's Economy: Merchant Capitalism and the Labour Market (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1993).
95. Jan Luiten Van Zanden, 'Holland en de Zuidelijke Nederlanden in de periode 1500-1570: divergerende ontwikkelingen of voortgaande economische integratie?' in Erik Aerts, Brigitte Henau, Paul Janssens, and Raymond Van Uytven, eds., Studia Historica Oeconomica: Liber Amicorum Herman Van der Wee (Leuven, 1993), pp. 357-68.
96. Herman Van der Wee and Jan Materné, 'Antwerp as a World Market in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries,' in J. Van der Stock, ed., Antwerp: Story of a Metropolis, 16th - 17th Century, Antwerp 93, Hessenhuis 25 June - 10 October 1993 (Gent: Snoeck-Ducaju en Zoon, 1993), pp. 19-31.
97. Richard Unger, 'The Fluit: Specialist Cargo Vessels, 1500 - 1650,' in The Ship, Vol. III: Cogs, Caravels and Galleons (London: Conway Maritime Press, 1994), pp. 115-30.
98. Johan De Vries, 'On Entrepreneurship in Dutch Banking History, 1800 - 1934,' in Paul Klep and Eddy Van Cauwenberghe, eds., Entrepreneurship and the Transformation of the Economy (10th-20th Centuries): Essays in Honour of Herman Van der Wee (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1994), pp. 419-28.
99. James C. Riley, 'Interest Rates in Antwerp, 1664-1787,' in Paul Klep and Eddy Van Cauwenberghe, eds., Entrepreneurship and the Transformation of the Economy (10th-20th Centuries): Essays in Honour of Herman Van der Wee (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1994), pp. 497-506.
100. Jan De Vries, 'An Employer's Guide to Wages and Working Conditions in the Netherlands, 1450-1850,' in Carol S. Leonard and Boris N. Mironov, eds., Hours of Work and Means of Payment: The Evolution of Conventions in Pre-Industrial Europe, Proceedings of the Eleventh International Economic History Congress, Milan, September 1994, Session B3b (Milan: Università Bocconi, 1994), pp. 47-63.
101. E. Aerts, M. Baelde, H. Coppens, H. De Schepper, H. Soly, A.K.L, Thijs, and K. Van Honacker, eds., De centrale overheidsinstellingen van de Habsburgse Nederlanden (1482-1795), 2 vols., Algemeen Rijksarchief en Rijksarchief in de Provinciën, Studia no. 55 (Brussels, 1994).
102. Jan Materné, De prijzenadministratie van de centrale overheid te Brussel tijdens de 18de eeuw: Vlaamse, Brabantse, Noordnederlandse, Engelse, Duitse en Baltische graanprijzen op de Amsterdamse beurs (1767 - 1792), Dienstencentrum en oderzoeksnetwerk: historische statistieken in België: opsporing, inventerisatie, samenstelling, en interpretatie (Brussels: Algemeen Rijksarchief, 1994).
103. J. S. Wheeler, 'English Financial Operations During the First Dutch War, 1652-54,' Journal of European Economic History, 23:2 (Fall 1994), 329-43.
104. Raymond Van Uytven, 'Antwerpen: Steuerungszentrum des Europäischen Handels und Metropole der Niederlande im 16. Jahrhundert,' in Bernhard Sicken, ed., Herrschaft und Verfassungsstrukturen im Nordwesten des Reiches: Beiträge zum Zeitalter Karls V: Franz Petri zum Gedächtnis (1903-1993) (Cologne-Weimar-Vienna: Böhlau Verlag, 1994), pp. 1-18.
105. Jan Luiten Van Zanden, The Transformation of European Agriculture in the Nineteenth Century: The Case of the Netherlands (Amsterdam: VU University Press, 1994).
106. Herman Van der Wee and Jan Materné, 'Antwerpen als internationaler Markt im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert,' in Wilfried Feldenkirchen, Frauke Schönert-Röhlk, and Günther Schulz, eds., Wirtschaft, Gesellschaft, Unternehmen: Festschrift für Hans Pohl zum 60. Geburtstag, Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, Beiheft 120 (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1995), pp. 47-99. A German version of no. 95 above.
107. Anne McCants, 'Meeting Needs and Suppressing Desires: Consumer Choice Models and Historical Data,' Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 26:2 (Autumn, 1995). On Dutch consumer markets in the 17th century.
108. Richard Unger, 'The Scale of Dutch Brewing, 1350-1600,' Research in Economic History, 15 (1995), 261-92.
109. J.T. Lindblad and F.C. Dufour-Briet, eds., Dutch Entries in the Pound-Toll Registers of Elbing, 1585 - 1700, Rijksgeschiedekundige Publicatiën, Grote Serie no. 225 (The Hague, 1995).
110. Karel Davids, 'Openness or Secrecy? Industrial Espionage in the Dutch Republic,' The Journal of European Economic History, 24:2 (Fall 1995), 333-48.
111. Karel Davids and Jan Lucassen, eds., A Miracle Mirrored: The Dutch Republic in European Perspective (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996).
112. Joost Jonker, Merchants, Bankers, Middlemen: The Amsterdam Money Market During the First Half of the 19th Century (Amsterdam: NEHA, 1996).
113. Marjolein 't Hart, Joost Jonker, and Jan Luiten Van Zanden, eds., A Financial History of the Netherlands (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997).
114. R.C. Nash, 'The Balance of Payments and Foreign Capital Flows in Eighteenth-Century England: A Comment,' The Economic History Review, 2nd ser., 50:1 (February 1997), 110-28.
115. Elise S. Brezis, 'Did Foreign Capital Flows Finance the Industrial Revolution? A Reply,' The Economic History Review, 2nd ser., 50:1 (February 1997), 129-32.
116. Leo Noordegraaf, 'The New Draperies in the Northern Netherlands, 1500 - 1800,' in Negley B. Harte, ed., The New Draperies in the Low Countries and England, 1300 - 1800, Pasold Studies in Textile History, Vol. 10 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), pp. 173-196.
117. Joost Jonker, Merchants, Bankers, Middlemen: The Amsterdam Money Market During the First Half of the 19th Century (Amsterdam: NEHA, 1996).
A. Anglo-Dutch Trade in 1697 and 1773: Values in millions of pounds sterling (£)
Year ENGLISH IMPORTS ENGLISH EXPORTS
Imports Percentage Total Exports Percentage Total
from of Total Imports to Holland of Total Exports
Holland Imports in £ in £ Exports in £
1697 £0.507 14.6% £ 3.483 £1.462 41.5% £ 3.526
1773 £0.412 3.6% £11.407 £1.874 12.7% £14.763
Source: Charles Wilson, Anglo-Dutch Trade and Finance in the Eighteenth Century (Cambridge, 1941), p. 24.
B. Gregory King's Estimates of Population, Per Capita Income and
Consumption and of Taxation in Holland, England, and France,
in 1695: from 'Naturall and Political Observations' (1696)
Country Population Per Capita Public Per Capita Per Capita
in Income in Revenues in Taxes in Consumption in
Millions £ sterling £ sterling £ sterling £ sterling
HOLLAND 2.240 £8.10 £ 6.900 £3.08 £4.69
ENGLAND 5.450 £7.80 £ 6.500 £1.20 £7.15
FRANCE 13.500 £5.90 £17.500 £1.25 £4.91
Source: Charles Wilson, 'Taxation and the Decline of Empires: An Unfashionable Theme in Economic History,' in Charles Wilson, Economic History and the Historian (1969), p. 120.
Note that the sum of per capita consumption and per capita taxes exceeds per capita income.
QUESTIONS for Reading and Discussion
1. What constituted the essential elements of Dutch economic hegemony in Europe, in shipping, commerce, and banking in particular, in the 17th and early 18th centuries? (Not for discussion: review from lecture and reading notes.)
2. In what respects did the basic elements of Dutch economic hegemony contain the seeds of the subsequent Dutch economic decline? In what respects did the Dutch economic assets and advantages of the 17th century become liabilities in the 18th century?
3. What were the most important features of Dutch economic decline in the 18th century? Explain the origins of and the consequences of each of the main elements of the Dutch economic decline, in terms of the following types of 'causes': commercial, industrial, financial, military, political, social.
4. To what extent were the chief causes of the Dutch economic decline endogenous to the Dutch economy (internal, as part of the Dutch economic structure), and to what extent were they exogenous (external to the Dutch economy)?
5. The Dutch economic decline in the 18th century: absolute or relative?
6. What role did warfare, the costs of national defence, and taxation play in the Dutch economic decline, according to Charles Wilson`s thesis (in reading no. 13)? Why did the Dutch find it more difficult and more costly to defend themselves than the English did?
7. What role did the supposed high cost of labour play in the Dutch economic decline? If real wages were in fact higher in Holland than elsewhere, why were they higher? If they were in fact higher, what were the real economic consequences?
8. It is sometimes argued that the Dutch invested too much abroad and not enough at home. Is this a valid argument (if it is indeed possible to provide any statistical evidence)?
9. Why did the Dutch economy shift more towards finance and banking in the 18th century; and what were the consequences of that shift? What were the causes and consequences of the Dutch financial crises of the 18th century?
10. Why, how, and in what respects did England overtake the Dutch economically in the 18th century?
11. Why did the Dutch fail to industrialize, or to establish a modernized industrial base, before the Napoleonic wars?
12. Could the Dutch have avoided their economic decline, even without industrializing along the lines of the British model?