IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/ereveh/v10y2006i02p111-145_00.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Towards an economic interpretation of citizenship: The Dutch Republic between medieval communes and modern nation-states

Author

Listed:
  • VAN ZANDEN, JAN LUITEN
  • PRAK, MAARTEN

Abstract

Citizenship was a key concept in European state formation from the Middle Ages onwards. This article presents an economic interpretation of citizenship. It argues that such a contract increases the efficiency of the exchange between the state and its inhabitants. Next, the concept of citizenship is applied to the political economy of the Dutch Republic, which was an ‘intermediate’ stage in the process of state formation between the medieval commune (with a restricted form of citizenship) and the nation-state of the nineteenth century, when the concept became more inclusive, covering all inhabitants. The article briefly sketches the genesis of the Dutch Republic and identifies some of the key problems of its political economy.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:ereveh:v:10:y:2006:i:02:p:111-145_00
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1361491606001651/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. P. Buonanno & M. Cervellati & S. Lazzaroni & G. Prarolo, 2022. "Historical social contracts and their legacy: a disaggregated analysis of the medieval republics," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 27(4), pages 485-526, December.
    2. Sheilagh Ogilvie, 2014. "The Economics of Guilds," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 28(4), pages 169-192, Fall.
    3. Jan Luiten van Zanden & Jaco Zuijderduijn & Tine De Moor, 2012. "Small is beautiful: the efficiency of credit markets in the late medieval Holland," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 16(1), pages 3-22, February.
    4. Leonor Freire Costa & Paulo Brito, 2018. "Why did people pay taxes? Fiscal innovation in Portugal and state making in times of political struggle (1500-1680)," Working Papers GHES - Office of Economic and Social History 2018/59, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, GHES - Social and Economic History Research Unit, Universidade de Lisboa.
    5. Alfani, Guido & Ryckbosch, Wouter, 2016. "Growing apart in early modern Europe? A comparison of inequality trends in Italy and the Low Countries, 1500–1800," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 143-153.
    6. Debin Ma, 2011. "Rock, scissors: the problem of incentives and information in the traditional China state and the origin of the Great Divergence," Working Papers 11002, Economic History Society.
    7. Fabian Wahl, 2014. "Origins of Political Change Ñ The Case of Late Medieval Guild Revolts," Working Papers 0069, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    8. K. Kivanç Karaman & Sevket Pamuk, 2011. "Different Paths to the Modern State in Europe: The interaction between domestic political economy and interstate competition," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 37, European Institute, LSE.
    9. Guido Alfani & Wouter Ryckbosch, 2015. "Was there a ‘Little Convergence’ in inequality? Italy and the Low Countries compared, ca. 1500-1800," Working Papers 557, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.
    10. Bas van Bavel, 2022. "Wealth inequality in pre‐industrial Europe: What role did associational organizations have?," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(3), pages 643-666, August.
    11. 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.
    12. Volckart, Oliver, 2017. "Premodern debasement: a messy affair," Economic History Working Papers 86533, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    13. Sheilagh Ogilvie, 2012. "Choices and Constraints in the Pre-Industrial Countryside," Working Papers 1, Department of Economic and Social History at the University of Cambridge, revised 01 Jan 2012.
    14. Ogilvie, Sheilagh & Carus, A.W., 2014. "Institutions and Economic Growth in Historical Perspective," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 8, pages 403-513, Elsevier.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:ereveh:v:10:y:2006:i:02:p:111-145_00. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/ere .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.