Abstract
This review article discusses recent publications by David Onnekink, Sophus
Reinert, Gijs Rommelse, Jacob Soll, and Arthur Weststeijn from the perspective
of the reception of Dutch economic and political thought in seventeenth- and
eighteenth-century Europe. The Dutch Republic has been called ‘the first modern
economy’ by Jan de Vries and Ad van der Woude. It looms large in ongoing
academic and public policy debates about ‘The Great Divergence’, i.e. the question why the West made the transition to an industrialized economy around 1800, while China did not. Just how innovative the inhabitants of the Dutch Republic were in nearly all aspects of life is well-documented. Less attention has been paid to the reaction of contemporary Europeans. How did they perceive the Dutch example? What did they learn from it? Was the miracle really mirrored elsewhere? These are questions that deserve more attention than they have received in Dutch historiography hitherto.
Reinert, Gijs Rommelse, Jacob Soll, and Arthur Weststeijn from the perspective
of the reception of Dutch economic and political thought in seventeenth- and
eighteenth-century Europe. The Dutch Republic has been called ‘the first modern
economy’ by Jan de Vries and Ad van der Woude. It looms large in ongoing
academic and public policy debates about ‘The Great Divergence’, i.e. the question why the West made the transition to an industrialized economy around 1800, while China did not. Just how innovative the inhabitants of the Dutch Republic were in nearly all aspects of life is well-documented. Less attention has been paid to the reaction of contemporary Europeans. How did they perceive the Dutch example? What did they learn from it? Was the miracle really mirrored elsewhere? These are questions that deserve more attention than they have received in Dutch historiography hitherto.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 83-99 |
| Number of pages | 16 |
| Journal | BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review (BMGN) |
| Volume | 127 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Publication status | Published - 2012 |
Keywords
- Techniques of information management
- John Cary
- Reception of Dutch economic and political thought
- De La Court brothers
- John de Witt
- George Downing
- Ideology in foreign policy