The aim of this project is to analyse the economic development of Holland in the early modern period on the basis of a reconstruction of its national accounts. It has been one of the first times the system of national accounts is applied to the study of a pre-industrial economy. The project is confined to the province of Holland, which was demographically and economically the most important part of the Northern Netherlands during this period.
Our main method is to gather specific information on annual output and added value in each of the most important economic branches, following the System of National Accounts (SNA) used in contemporary economic-statistical research. The starting point is the production approach; the branches that are being reconstructed include agriculture, herring fisheries, peat extraction, production of textiles, sugar and paper, to name but a few. Weights will be derived from a reconstruction of the structure of the labour force in three moments in time: 1510/14, 1670/80 and around 1800. Combined, the chronological series and the data on the structure of the labour force served as a basis for estimating developments in the level and structure of national income.
The project is presented in more detail in 'Economische groei in Holland tussen 1500 en 1800', NEHA-bulletin 15-2 (2001) 65-76.
