Pioneers of Capitalism

The Netherlands 1000–1800

Maarten Prak, Jan Luiten van Zanden, Ian Cressie

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English

Princeton University Press
11 June 2024

Development economics; Political economy; Economic systems & structures; Economic history

Series: The Princeton Economic History of the Western World

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. Pioneers of Capitalism examines the formal and 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 organisations 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.

By: Maarten Prak, Jan Luiten van Zanden
Translated by: Ian Cressie
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780691242330
ISBN 10: 069124233X
Series: The Princeton Economic History of the Western World
Pages: 280
Publication Date: 11 June 2024
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , General/trade , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Maarten Prak is professor of social and economic history at Utrecht University. His books include Citizens without Nations: Urban Citizenship in Europe and the World, c. 10001789. Jan Luiten van Zanden is professor of global economic history at Utrecht University. His books include The Strictures of Inheritance: The Dutch Economy in the Nineteenth Century (Princeton).

Reviews for Pioneers of Capitalism: The Netherlands 1000–1800

""A FiveBooks Best Economic History Book of the Year"" ""An excellent book.""---Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution ""[Prak and van Zanden] have provided a path forward for studying economic history that takes complexity seriously without letting it prevent us from getting to the important truths of economic history. One can only hope that more social and economic historians follow Prak and van Zanden’s path in the future.""---Samuel Gregg, Engelsberg Ideas ""[Pioneers of Capitalism] will be the standard work on the topic for years and perhaps decades to come, as it offers a very well-written and powerful account of the rise and fall of the Dutch Republic in the medieval and early modern periods.""---Gijs Dreijer, Business History Review ""[Pioneers of Capitalism] surpasses the previous syntheses of Dutch capitalism by bringing it in line with recent developments in economic history. . . . Fascinating. ""---Bas Spliet, Journal of European Economic History ""[Pioneers of Capitalism] shows on every page exceptional erudition and wide command of the topic, an ability to adopt very long and wide perspectives, and great skill in providing tables and graphs that are straightforward and easy to take in at a glance but that tell a big story in a small space. . . . [B]rilliant, well written, and unmissable for anyone with an interest in economic and social history.""---Jonathan I. Israel, Journal of Modern History