Overheidsfinanciën en modernisering. Over de invloed van financiële crises op de ineenstorting en reconstructie van staten: het geval Nederland, 1740-1848

Samenvatting

Government Finances and Modernization: The Influence of Financial Crises on the Collapse and Reconstruction of States: The Case of the Netherlands, 1780-1848. A historical analysis of the Dutch fiscal crisis and collapse of the government in 1795. During the eighteenth century, financial problems accrued from the Wars of Austrian and Spanish Succession, conflicts with England, and the threat of invasion by revolutionary France. The government was forced to borrow to make ends meet, and introduced new finance methods in 1806, although these proved inadequate to meet military and other expenses. A periodization reveals three main developmental phases of finance corresponding to political processes in the Netherlands, 1780-1848: (1) centralization (1795-1810); (2) bureaucratization (1814-1840); and (3) constitutionalization (1840-1848). The crisis did not develop due to growth in government expenditures per se, but to the inability of revenue to keep up with them. The challenges posed by this situation ultimately led to the emergence of a modern financial system. 1 Table, 1 Graph. Adapted from the source document.