Why Did the Netherlands Develop So Early? The Legacy of the Brethren of the Common Life

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Akcomak I. S., WEBBİNK D., TER WEEL B.

ECONOMIC JOURNAL, cilt.126, sa.593, ss.821-860, 2016 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 126 Sayı: 593
  • Basım Tarihi: 2016
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1111/ecoj.12193
  • Dergi Adı: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.821-860
  • Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This research establishes a link between the Brethren of the Common Life (BCL), a religious community founded by Geert Groote in Deventer in the late fourteenth century, and the early economic development of the Netherlands. The BCL stimulated human capital accumulation. The historical analyses show that the BCL contributed to the high rates of literacy, to the high level of book production and to city growth in the Netherlands. These findings are supported by a set of OLS regressions and further corroborated by 2SLS estimates that use distance from Deventer as an instrument for the presence of the BCL.