The First Modern Economy: Success, Failure, and Perseverance of the Dutch Economy, 1500–1815

by Jan de Vries, Ad van der Woude

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.

Genres: History, Economics, Nonfiction

792 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1997

About the author

Jan de Vries is Ehrman Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, Berkeley.

Reviews

[Patrick]

One of the best comprehensive economic histories of a single country I’ve ever read.

[Nikhil]

There is simply no book on the early modern Dutch economy which matches this work of de Vries and van der Woude in terms of its scope or depth. These economic historians consider each facet of the Dutch Republic's economy: agriculture, industries (by sector), trade and commerce (a considerable interest), social structure, transport and irrigation, the social structure, workforce (having developed a novelty: a sizable urban proletariat), finance, urbanization and construction, the role of policy, and so on. They do this having delved into as many primary records as possible to provide a remarkably clear picture of an economy which flourished (in relative terms), left its mark on the landscape and urban structure of the Netherlands, but, in many ways, fundamentally no longer existed by the outbreak of the various wars relating to the French Revolution and Napoleon's conquests in Europe.

The Dutch Republic's economic efflorescence is a particularly fascinating case given that it took place in a "pre-industrial" age, said to have experienced limited technological change. It is a lesson which many fail to consider in tackling larger questions, such as why sustained economic growth occurred in England later on. While financial and trade innovations are often highlighted, a major contribution of this work is to stress the widespread "relative modernity" of the Dutch Republic's economy, especially in the province of Holland. The Dutch had a very capital intensive form of agriculture, partly induced by their environmental conditions. They also were leaders in a whole range of manufactured goods, from processed food and drink (beer included) to earthenware to textiles. While many of these waned in leadership and dynamism after a peak in the 17th century, there was still some glimmers of novelty in the industries connected to new colonial goods, above all with sugar refining. The uneven slowdowns in dynamism amid longer-term economy-wide restructuring apparently featured as much in the Dutch Republic as it does in the 21st century. For this and many other reasons, the authors' claim that the Dutch were the first modern economy has quite a lot going for it.

[Harm]

In this book, the authors try to convince the reader that the economy of the Dutch Republic was the first modern one of its kind. The absence of a clear definition of what exactly constitutes a modern economy, leaves me unconvinced. Fortunately, this mainly concerns the last chapter and the epilogue. For the main part of the book, De Vries and Van der Woude offer a well-structured and relatively accessible enormous source of information on the economy of the Dutch Republic, which I really enjoyed to read.

[Josh Taylor]

Analysis very good, all but the last chapter is based on reasonably good statistical inference and empirical logic. However, the premise of the book to show that the Dutch Republic was: (1) a 'modern economy' in a pre-modern economy world, and (2) was the first to become a 'modern economy', are not very convincing. The tag-line is more worthy of note and more credible to the picture that is painted through the highly detailed analysis.