Structural change in the Dutch trade with the baltic in the eighteenth century

Abstract

Affluence easily veils failure and cripples creativity. In the eighteenth century, the Dutch Republic probably enjoyed the world's highest national per capita income. The Republic was the first state to ascend beyond the modest pre-industrial income levels, interestingly enough without itself industrializing. Yet, economically the Republic stagnated visibly. Ships on the international routes increasingly passed Amsterdam by and trade — the old foundation of prosperity — declined in the midst of a general revival of North and West European commerce. The stagnation affected all walks of economic life and created a feeling of resignation that baffled many attempts at redress.¹ The fascination with the fate of the Dutch Republic in the eighteenth century arises in part from this juxtaposition of affluence and decay. Did structural change cause the decline of Dutch trade or was it precisely the want of structural adjustments that became fatal? There is a great deal of confusion in Dutch historiography on this issue. Johan de Vries — to start with the Nestor among the historians of the Dutch decline — speaks of ‘structural alterations in the trade’ that ultimately undermined the position

This article is a revised and extended version of a contribution entitled ‘Structuur en mededinging in de handel van de Republiek op de Oostzee in de achttiende eeuw’, Verstuivingen in de economische en sociale geschiedenis (Opstellen aangeboden aan prof.dr. J.H. van Stuijvenberg ter gelegenheid van zijn afscheid als hoogleraar in de economische geschiedenis aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam) (Leyden 1984) 79-90. The diagrams were drawn by Martin van Wouw, Amsterdam.

This article is a revised and extended version of a contribution entitled ‘Structuur en mededinging in de handel van de Republiek op de Oostzee in de achttiende eeuw’, Verstuivingen in de economische en sociale geschiedenis (Opstellen aangeboden aan prof.dr. J.H. van Stuijvenberg ter gelegenheid van zijn afscheid als hoogleraar in de economische geschiedenis aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam) (Leyden 1984) 79-90. The diagrams were drawn by Martin van Wouw, Amsterdam.

Notes

This article is a revised and extended version of a contribution entitled ‘Structuur en mededinging in de handel van de Republiek op de Oostzee in de achttiende eeuw’, Verstuivingen in de economische en sociale geschiedenis (Opstellen aangeboden aan prof.dr. J.H. van Stuijvenberg ter gelegenheid van zijn afscheid als hoogleraar in de economische geschiedenis aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam) (Leyden 1984) 79-90. The diagrams were drawn by Martin van Wouw, Amsterdam.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jan Thomas Lindblad

Dr. Jan Thomas Lindblad, born 1949, studied at Columbia University, New York, and the University of Amsterdam. Since 1975 he teaches economic history at the University of Leyden in the Netherlands. His doctoral dissertation (University of Amsterdam. 1982) was entitled Sweden's Trade with the Dutch Republic 1738-1795. In 1984 he published a Dutch handbook in statistics for historians. Presently he also does research on the modern economic history of Indonesia.