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R aiffeisenism abroad: why did G erman cooperative banking fail in I reland but prosper in the N etherlands?
Author(s) -
Colvin Christopher L.,
McLaughlin Eoin
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the economic history review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.014
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1468-0289
pISSN - 0013-0117
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0289.12030
Subject(s) - competitor analysis , business , irish , work (physics) , marketing , engineering , linguistics , mechanical engineering , philosophy
Why did imitations of R aiffeisen's rural cooperative savings and loans associations work well in some E uropean countries, but fail in others? This article considers the example of R aiffeisenism in I reland and in the N etherlands. R aiffeisen banks arrived in both places at the same time, but had drastically different fates. In I reland they were almost wiped out by the early 1920s, while in the N etherlands they proved to be a long‐lasting institutional transplant. R aiffeisen banks were successful in the N etherlands because they operated in niche markets with few competitors, while rural financial markets in I reland were unsegmented and populated by long‐established incumbents, leaving little room for new players, whatever their institutional advantages. D utch R aiffeisen banks were largely self‐financing, closely integrated into the wider rural economy, and able to take advantage of economic and religious divisions in rural society. Their Irish counterparts were not.