Technologie en de economische modernisering van Nederland in de negentiende eeuw

Abstract

Technology and the economic modernization of the Netherlands in the nineteenth century Five points of criticism can be raised with respect to the series Geschiedenis van de techniek in Nederland: (i) case studies were selected in view of their influence on the modernization of Dutch society. So, the historical account presented can be called 'a history of success', which resulted in a biased picture of Dutch technological development; (2) insufficient attention has been paid to the important issue of the rate and periodization of technological development in the Netherlands (at least in the general, concluding parts of the series); (3) a thorough international comparison is lacking; (4) quantitative sources of information have hardly been used; and (5) the authors mainly analyse the supply side of technological development, and fail to pay proper attention to the role of demand. As a result of these five, not unrelated, shortcomings, the series fails to present an analysis of technological innovation as a macro-economic process. This paper is a first attempt to fill the gaps in the 'Eindhoven project' by sketching the structural changes in Dutch economy in the nineteenth century, making use of Simon Kuznets' theory of modern economic growth. It is stated that the transition from a premodern to a modern economic structure of Dutch economy started in the 1860s. From that decade onwards, improvements in the transport-infrastructure, political centralization and new legislation resulted in the birth of an integrated economic market on a national scale. Together with a rise in standards of living, this meant that market demand grew much stronger than during the first half of the century. For the first time, economies of scale and rational production techniques were possible, a fact that had a strong influence on the pace of technological development. Therefore, the 1850s and 1860s were also a watershed with respect to the technological development of the Netherlands.