"How was life in 1820, and how has it improved since then? What are the long-term trends in global well-being? Views on social progress since the Industrial Revolution are largely based on historical national accounting in the tradition of Kuznets and Maddison. But trends in real GDP per capita...

"This exciting new volume examines the development of market performance from Antiquity until the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Efficient market structures are agreed by most economists to serve as evidence of economic prosperity, and to be prerequisites for further economic growth....

Acknowledgments -- Introduction : varieties of capitalism and business history : the Dutch case / Keetie Sluyterman -- Variations of coordination : labour relations in the Netherlands / Erik Nijhof and Annette van den Berg -- The evolving role of shareholders in Dutch corporate governance,...