IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ehsrev/v57y2004i3p503-532.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The jump‐start of the Holland economy during the late‐medieval crisis, c.1350–c.1500

Author

Listed:
  • BAS J. P. Van BAVEL
  • JAN LUITEN Van ZANDEN

Abstract

By c.1500 the Holland economy had already acquired modern traits, as witnessed by the occupational structure and the urbanization rate. This article tries to explain the remarkable development of the Holland economy between 1350 and 1500, linking it to the specific occupation history of the region in the eleventh to thirteenth centuries. The combination of high wages in this frontier economy with increasing difficulties in arable agriculture as a result of the subsidence of peat soils, and the absence of feudal restrictions in production and marketing, resulted in the rise of capital‐intensive industries, benefiting from converging wages and increasing market integration.

Suggested Citation

  • BAS J. P. Van BAVEL & JAN LUITEN Van ZANDEN, 2004. "The jump‐start of the Holland economy during the late‐medieval crisis, c.1350–c.1500," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 57(3), pages 503-532, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:57:y:2004:i:3:p:503-532
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2004.00286.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0289.2004.00286.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1468-0289.2004.00286.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Van Zanden, Jan Luiten, 2002. "Taking the measure of the early modern economy: Historical national accounts for Holland in 1510/14," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(2), pages 131-163, August.
    2. Clark, Gregory, 1988. "The cost of capital and medieval agricultural technique," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 265-294, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Remi Jedwab & Noel D. Johnson & Mark Koyama, 2019. "Pandemics, Places, and Populations: Evidence from the Black Death," Working Papers 2019-3, The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy.
    2. Oscar Gelderblom & Joost Jonker, 2013. "Early Capitalism in the Low Countries," Working Papers 0041, Utrecht University, Centre for Global Economic History.
    3. van Bavel, Bas, 2016. "The Invisible Hand?: How Market Economies have Emerged and Declined Since AD 500," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199608133.
    4. Fochesato, Mattia, 2018. "Origins of Europe’s north-south divide: Population changes, real wages and the ‘little divergence’ in early modern Europe," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 91-131.
    5. Sara Horrell, 2023. "Household consumption patterns and the consumer price index, England, 1260–1869," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(4), pages 1023-1050, November.
    6. İ. Semih Akçomak & Dinand Webbink & Bas Weel, 2016. "Why Did the Netherlands Develop So Early? The Legacy of the Brethren of the Common Life," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(593), pages 821-860, June.
    7. Wahl, Fabian, 2016. "Does medieval trade still matter? Historical trade centers, agglomeration and contemporary economic development," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 50-60.
    8. Sheilagh Ogilvie, 2012. "Choices and Constraints in the Pre-Industrial Countryside," Working Papers 1, Department of Economic and Social History at the University of Cambridge, revised 01 Jan 2012.
    9. Bas Bavel & Auke Rijpma, 2016. "How important were formalized charity and social spending before the rise of the welfare state? A long-run analysis of selected western European cases, 1400–1850," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 69(1), pages 159-187, February.
    10. Jan Luiten van Zanden & Bas van Leeuwen, 2011. "The Character of growth before 'modern economics growth'? The GDP of Holland between 1347 and 1807," Working Papers 0004, Utrecht University, Centre for Global Economic History.
    11. Robertson, Jeffrey & Funnell, Warwick, 2012. "The Dutch East-India Company and accounting for social capital at the dawn of modern capitalism 1602–1623," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 342-360.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Philippe Bracke & Edward W. Pinchbeck & James Wyatt, 2018. "The Time Value of Housing: Historical Evidence on Discount Rates," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(613), pages 1820-1843, August.
    2. Radoslaw (Radek) Stefanski & Alex Trew, 2021. "Selection, Patience, and the Interest Rate (updated 2023)," Working Papers 2020_03, Business School - Economics, University of Glasgow.
    3. Lindert, Peter H., 2003. "Voice and Growth: Was Churchill Right?," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 63(2), pages 315-350, June.
    4. Broadberry, Stephen & Ghosal, Sayantan & Proto, Eugenio, 2017. "Anonymity, efficiency wages and technological progress," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 379-394.
    5. Stephen Broadberry & Alexandra M. de Pleijt, 2021. "Capital and Economic Growth in Britain, 1270-1870: Preliminary Findings," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _186, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    6. Broadberry, Stephen & Ghosal, Sayantan & Proto, Eugenio, 2011. "Is Anonymity the Missing Link Between Commercial and Industrial Revolution?," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 974, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    7. van Bavel, Bas, 2016. "The Invisible Hand?: How Market Economies have Emerged and Declined Since AD 500," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199608133.
    8. Philip T. Hoffman, 2011. "Prices, the military revolution, and western Europe's comparative advantage in violence," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 64(s1), pages 39-59, February.
    9. Pim de Zwart, 2012. "Population, labour and living standards in early modern Ceylon: An empirical contribution to the divergence debate," The Indian Economic & Social History Review, , vol. 49(3), pages 365-398, September.
    10. Jaco Zuijderduijn & Tine De Moor, 2013. "Spending, saving, or investing? Risk management in sixteenth-century Dutch households," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 66(1), pages 38-56, February.
    11. Bekar, Cliff T. & Reed, Clyde G., 2003. "Open fields, risk, and land divisibility," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 308-325, July.
    12. van Zanden, Jan Luiten & van Tielhof, Milja, 2009. "Roots of growth and productivity change in Dutch shipping industry, 1500-1800," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 389-403, October.
    13. Yannick Malevergne & Didier Sornette, 2016. "Wealth and Income Inequalities ← → r > g," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 16-69, Swiss Finance Institute.
    14. Nicolini, Esteban, 2001. "Adult mortality and investment: a new explanation of the English agricultural productivity in the 18th century," IFCS - Working Papers in Economic History.WH wh016301, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto Figuerola.
    15. Chilosi, David & Ciccarelli, Carlo, 2023. "Italy in the great divergence: what can we learn from Engel’s law?," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 667, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    16. Cormac Ó Gráda, 2005. "You Take the High Road and I’ll Take the Low Road - Economic Success and Wellbeing in the Longer Run," Working Papers 200510, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    17. Clark, Gregory, 1998. "Land Hunger: Land as a Commodity and as a Status Good, England, 1500-1910," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 59-82, January.
    18. Eltjo Buringh, 2014. "Books do not die: the price of information, Human Capital and the Black Death in the long fourteenth century," Working Papers 0055, Utrecht University, Centre for Global Economic History.
    19. Joel Mokyr & Hans-Joachim Voth, 2012. "Understanding Growth in Europe, 1700–1870: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Economic Sociology, National Research University Higher School of Economics, vol. 13(5), pages 57-102.
    20. MADSEN, Jakob B, 2018. "Is Inequality Increasing in r-g? The Dynamics of Capital’s Income Share in the UK, 1210-2013," Discussion paper series HIAS-E-70, Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study, Hitotsubashi University.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:57:y:2004:i:3:p:503-532. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ehsukea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.