A Financial History of the Netherlands

by Edited by Marjolein 't Hart , Joost Jonker , Jan Luiten van Zanden

• ISBN13: 9780521581615
• ISBN10: 0521581613
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-10-13
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

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 to the present day. 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.

Table of Contents

List of figures	x	(2)
List of tables	xii
1 Introduction	1	(10)
MARJOLEIN 'T HART
JOOST JONKER
JAN LUITEN VAN ZANDEN
2 The merits of a financial revolution: public finance, 1550-1700	11	(26)
MARJOLEIN 'T HART
2.1 Introduction	11	(1)
2.2 The centralisation of finances under the Habsburgs	12	(2)
2.3 Early fiscal structures during the Revolt	14	(2)
2.4 The burden of war in the republican expenses	16	(1)
2.5 The safety-valve of the public debt	17	(5)
2.6 The limited fiscal instruments of the central state	22	(5)
2.7 General patterns in taxation	27	(2)
2.8 The varying burden of taxation in the provinces	29	(5)
2.9 The financial success of the Dutch Republic	34	(3)
3 Linking the fortunes: currency and banking, 1550-1800	37	(27)
PIT DEHING
MARJOLEIN 'T HART
3.1 Introduction	37	(1)
3.2 The Revolt and its consequences for mint and currency	38	(2)
3.3 Reforms and improvements in the currency system	40	(2)
3.4 Money changers, cashiers and pawnbrokers	42	(3)
3.5 The Bank of Amsterdam	45	(6)
3.6 Characteristics of the Amsterdam capital market	51	(2)
3.7 The Amsterdam bourse and the trade in securities	53	(3)
3.8 Capital flows and foreign assets	56	(2)
3.9 Crises and weaknesses	58	(3)
3.10 Conclusion	61	(3)
4 From fragmentation to unification: public finance, 1700-1914	64	(30)
WANTJE FRITSCHY
RENE VAN DER VOORT
4.1 Introduction	64	(2)
4.2 Quantitative developments	66	(4)
4.3 Public expenditure in the eighteenth century: wars and debts	70	(3)
4.4 Public expenditure in patriot ideology and during the Batavian Revolution	73	(2)
4.5 National expenditure and debts from 1815 to 1850	75	(3)
4.6 Public revenues: the heritage of the eighteenth century	78	(3)
4.7 Taxation during the Batavian Revolution	81	(2)
4.8 Taxation in the Netherlands up to 1850	83	(2)
4.9 Public expenditure during the heyday of liberalism	85	(2)
4.10 Public revenue between 1844 and 1914	87	(3)
4.11 Public finance, institutional change, economic development and capital export	90	(4)
5 The alternative road to modernity: banking and currency, 1814-1914	94	(30)
JOOST JONKER
5.1 Introduction	94	(1)
5.2 Cleaning up the circulation, 1814-1850	95	(2)
5.3 Managing the currency, 1850-1914	97	(1)
5.4 The early pattern of banking, 1814-1860	98	(10)
5.5 Structural changes, 1860-1890	108	(2)
5.6 New horizons, 1890-1914	110	(12)
5.7 Conclusion	122	(2)
6 Old rules, new conditions, 1914-1940	124	(28)
JAN LUITEN VAN ZANDEN
6.1 The development of the banking system: from `revolution' to stagnation	124	(11)
6.2 Government finances: the golden rule of accumulation in practice	135	(6)
6.3 Monetary policy and the development of the Central Bank	141	(10)
6.4 Old rules, new conditions, 1914-1940	151	(1)
7 Towards a new maturity, 1940-1990	152	(43)
JAAP BARENDREGT
HANS VISSER
7.1 Introduction	152	(1)
7.2 War and peace	152	(7)
7.3 Public finance	159	(8)
7.4 The financial sector	167	(6)
7.5 Increase of scale in banking	173	(11)
7.6 Functions and development of the Nederlandsche Bank	184	(9)
7.7 Summary	193	(2)
8 Conclusion	195	(6)
MARJOLEIN 'T HART
JOOST JONKER
JAN LUITEN VAN ZANDEN
8.1 Provincial primacy, 1570-1800	196	(1)
8.2 The coming of the nation-state, 1800-1914	197	(1)
8.3 From nation-state to wider monetary integration, 1914-	198	(3)
Glossary	201	(3)
Bibliography	204	(19)
Index	223