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Small is beautiful. On the efficiency of credit markets in late medieval Holland

Author

Listed:
  • Jaco Zuijderduijn
  • Tine De Moor
  • Jan Luiten van Zanden

    (Utrecht University)

Abstract

In this paper we analyse the functioning of private capital markets in Holland in the late medieval period. We argue that in the absence of banks and state agencies involved with the supply of credit, entrepreneurs access to credit was determined by two interrelated factors. The first was the quality of property rights protection and the extent to which property could be used as collateral. The second was the level of interest in borrowing money at the time, as well as such borrowing compared with the interest rates on risk-free investments. For our case study, the small town of Edam, and its hinterland, De Zeevang, in the fifteenth and sixteenthcentury, we demonstrate that properties were used as collateral on a large scale, and that interest rates on both small and large loans were relatively low (about six per cent). As a result, many households (whether headed by men or women) owned financial assets and/or debts, and the degree of financial sophistication was relatively high.

Suggested Citation

  • Jaco Zuijderduijn & Tine De Moor & Jan Luiten van Zanden, 2011. "Small is beautiful. On the efficiency of credit markets in late medieval Holland," Working Papers 0011, Utrecht University, Centre for Global Economic History.
  • Handle: RePEc:ucg:wpaper:0011
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    File URL: http://www.cgeh.nl/sites/default/files/WorkingPapers/CGEH.WP_.No11.Zuijderduinet.al_.June2011.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. 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.
    2. Hoffman, Philip T. & Postel-Vinay, Gilles & Rosenthal, Jean-Laurent, 2001. "Priceless Markets," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226348018.
    3. Sylla, Richard, 2002. "Financial Systems And Economic Modernization," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 62(2), pages 277-292, June.
    4. Tine De Moor & Jan Luiten Van Zanden, 2010. "Girl power: the European marriage pattern and labour markets in the North Sea region in the late medieval and early modern period1," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 63(1), pages 1-33, February.
    5. Munro, John H., 2002. "The medieval origins of the 'Financial Revolution': usury, rentes, and negotiablity," MPRA Paper 10925, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Sep 2002.
    6. Van Zanden, Jan Luiten & Prak, Maarten, 2006. "Towards an economic interpretation of citizenship: The Dutch Republic between medieval communes and modern nation-states," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(2), pages 111-145, August.
    7. Fratianni, Michele & Spinelli, Franco, 2006. "Italian city-states and financial evolution," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(3), pages 257-278, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Arvind Ashta & Isabelle Demay & Mawuli Couchoro, 2016. "The Role of Stakeholders in the Historical Evolution of Microfinance in Togo," Economic History of Developing Regions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(2-3), pages 303-344, September.
    2. Jan Luiten van Zanden, 2012. "In Good Company: About Agency and Economic Development in Global Perspective," Economic History of Developing Regions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(S1), pages 16-27.
    3. Jan Luiten van Zanden & Emanuele Felice, 2017. "Benchmarking the Middle Ages. XV century Tuscany in European Perspective," Working Papers 0081, Utrecht University, Centre for Global Economic History.
    4. Marcella Lorenzini, 2015. "Notarial Credit in Eighteenth-Century Trentino: Dynamics and Trends," DEM Working Papers 2015/01, Department of Economics and Management.
    5. Zuijderduijn, Jaco, 2016. "The Ages of Women and Men : Life Cycles, Family and Investment in the Fifteenth-Century Low Countries," Lund Papers in Economic History 150, Lund University, Department of Economic History.
    6. De Vijlder, Nicolas, 2012. "A macroeconomic analysis of the land market in the count of Flanders and the duchy of Brabant. (fifteenth and sixteenth century)," MPRA Paper 39283, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Timur Kuran & Jared Rubin, 2014. "The Financial Power of the Powerless: Socio-Economic Status and Interest Rates under Partial Rule of Law," Working Papers 14-22, Chapman University, Economic Science Institute.

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    Keywords

    credit markets; Holland; late Middle Ages; NIE; micro-credit;
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