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Microfinance And The Decline Of Poverty: Evidence From The Nineteenth-Century Netherlands

Author

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  • HEIDI DENEWETH

    (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium)

  • OSCAR GELDERBLOM

    (Utrecht University, Netherlands)

  • JOOST JONKER

    (Utrecht University and University of Amsterdam, Netherlands)

Abstract

Applying insights from recent literature on the financial behaviour of poor households in developing countries to the nineteenth-century Netherlands, we show that micro finance type institutions failed to alleviate the country¡¯s persistent poverty for the same reasons found today. The numerous institutions launched failed to reach the customers targeted because, like the poor households analyzed in the modern literature, the Dutch poor lacked the money to use them and relied on a combination of makeshift and network solutions instead until rising wages from about 1870 widened their options. Consequently growth preceded finance, not the other way around.

Suggested Citation

  • Heidi Deneweth & Oscar Gelderblom & Joost Jonker, 2014. "Microfinance And The Decline Of Poverty: Evidence From The Nineteenth-Century Netherlands," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 39(1), pages 79-110, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:jed:journl:v:39:y:2014:i:1:p:79-110
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    Cited by:

    1. Colvin, Christopher L. & Henderson, Stuart & Turner, John D., 2018. "The origins of the (cooperative) species: Raiffeisen banking in the Netherlands, 1898-1909," QUCEH Working Paper Series 2018-03, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    2. Oscar Gelderblom & Joost Jonker & Ruben Peeters & Amaury de Vicq, 2023. "Exploring modern bank penetration: Evidence from early twentieth‐century Netherlands," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(3), pages 892-916, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • N23 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N93 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance

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