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The jump‐start of the Holland economy during the late‐medieval crisis, c.1350–c.1500 1
Author(s) -
Van BAVEL BAS J. P.,
Van ZANDEN JAN LUITEN
Publication year - 2004
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/j.1468-0289.2004.00286.x
Subject(s) - eleventh , frontier , arable land , feudalism , economics , economy , capital (architecture) , urbanization , production (economics) , agriculture , market economy , geography , political science , archaeology , economic growth , physics , politics , acoustics , law , macroeconomics
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.