The First Modern Economy: Success, Failure, and Perseverance of the Dutch Economy, 1500-1815 / Edition 1

by Jan de Vries, Ad van der Woude

Overview

A comprehensive economic history of The Netherlands during its rise to European economic leadership, which argues that this was the first modern economy. This position is defended with detailed analyses of the major economic sectors and investigations into social structure and macro-economic performance. Dutch economic history is placed in its European and world context. Inter-continental and colonial trade are discussed fully. Special emphasis is placed on the environmental context and demographic developments.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521578257
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	05/28/1997
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	792
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 1.57(d)

Table of Contents

Preface; 1. By way of introduction; Part I. Structures: 2. Space and time, structures and conjunctures; 3. The people; 4. Money and taxes, borrowing and lending; 5. Three questions; Part II. Sectors: 6. Agriculture; 7. Fishing; 8. Industry; 9. Foreign trade until the mid-seventeenth century; 10. Foreign trade after the mid-seventeenth century; Part III. Analysis: 11. City and country: the social structure of a modern economy; 12. The standard of living and the labor market; 13. The course of the economy: a macroeconomic analysis; 14. Postlude.

Editorial Reviews

"In this impressive volume, de Vries and van der Woude have given English-speaking scholars what is sure to be the definitive account of the early modern Dutch economy for years to come." Anne E. C. McCants, Jrnl of Interdisciplinary History

"This book presents an intellectually ambitious argument with admirable clarity, the many separate pieces well worked out individually, and well integrated into the larger picture. There are now a number of books on the early modern Dutch economy,...but none to compare with this one in its broad sweep and the internal coherence of its basic argument. It must be the starting point for all subsequent discussion." James D. Tracy, Sixteenth Century Journal

"This excellent book on the Dutch economy in the period, published first in Dutch (in 1995) and now available in English in a somewhat revised version, can be considered to be high point in this re-evaluation of the period before 1800. ...the book will certainly become a classic, one which will dominate the historiography of Dutch economic history for a long time to come." Jan Luiten van Zanden, The International History Review

"This book represents an integration of many schools of thought, of academic disciplines, and of a vast body of material into a coherent whole." N.J.G. Pounds, American Historical Review

"...this monumental work shows how useful economic history, when properly integrated with social and political history, can be comprehending how the world functioned in the past." Richard W. Unger, Journal of Modern History

From the Publisher