Microfinance and the Decline of Poverty: Evidence From the Nineteenth-Century Netherlands

Deneweth, Heidi; Gelderblom, Oscar; Jonker, Joost

doi:10.35866/caujed.2014.39.1.004

Cited by 19 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Thus, we see growing levels of inequality in aggregate statistics, but this should rarely be a case of the rich getting richer-it is instead more frequently a case of rags (or, more typically, middle class) to increasingly extreme levels of riches. While inequality may be increasing, we also see that outright poverty is in sharp decline worldwide (De Janvry & Sadoulet, 2010;Deaton, 2013;Deneweth, Gelderblom, & Jonker, 2014). This too is in line with our model's predictions.…”

Section: Is Inequality Inherently Self-reinforcing?supporting

confidence: 89%

On the relationship between inequality and entrepreneurship

Packard

Bylund

2017

Strategic Entrepreneurship

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Research Summary We reexamine and explore the modern view of inequality against entrepreneurial market process theories, which leads us to three key assertions. First, we question the validity of income inequality as a proxy for true inequality (i.e., inequality of individual well‐being), observing nonlinearity between the two constructs. Second, we explore the entrepreneurial microfoundations of growing and shrinking inequality in market societies, arguing that individual inequality is primarily the outcome of abnormal gains from disequilibrating creative destructive processes. These shifts are temporary, however, as equilibrating (arbitraging) entrepreneurship competes away monopoly profits. Growing inequality trends, then, are seen primarily as the result of increasingly large, but also shorter, waves of creative destruction. Finally, we reconsider the issue of the injustice of inequality through this market process lens. Managerial summary We contribute three arguments to the debate over economic inequality. We are (or ought to be) concerned over differences in individual well‐being, not income. Studies of income inequality can be misleading. We argue that a key and so far overlooked source of economic inequality is entrepreneurship. Disruptive entrepreneurship (via innovation) redistributes economic resources away from the present industry, reallocating them in a more unequal redistribution, with the successful disruptor capturing an unequal share of resources. Imitative entrepreneurship, however, tends to mitigate this inequality, competing away abnormal profits while expanding new products’ diffusion among consumers. Finally, we observe that economic inequality may not be as unjust as previously thought, and we caution against corrective policy that might inhibit entrepreneurship.

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Section: Is Inequality Inherently Self-reinforcing?supporting

confidence: 89%

On the relationship between inequality and entrepreneurship

Packard

Bylund

2017

Strategic Entrepreneurship

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“…While this lack of a difference in FA magnitude between the two populations may be an indication that FA is not such a highly sensitive indicator of stress as indicated in the literature (DeLeon, 2007;Hoover and Matsumura, 2008;Livshits and Kobyliansky, 1991;Storm, 2008Storm, , 2007, it is important to also interpret the results in relation to the context in which the individuals lived. Comparisons of the socio-political environments of the individuals from GRK during the 18 th to early 19 th century, and individuals from MeB during the early 19 th to the early 20 th centuries, suggest that the GRK population experienced a more turbulent economic environment (Allen, 2001(Allen, , 2000Deneweth et al, 2014;De Vries and Van der Woude, 1997;Haines, 2004;Van den Eerenbeemt, 1962). The 18 th to early 19 th century (GRK population) Dutch economy started and ended amidst the remnants of economic recessions with a period of slow economic growth in between (1740-1780).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Poor living standards resulted from of a combination of the stagnation of wage increases and an increase in the cost of living. While the economic recession ended at the turn of the century, it left a nation in poverty (Allen, 2000;Deneweth et al, 2014;De Vries, 1968;De Vries and Van der Woude, 1997). Despite the adverse economic conditions between 1795 and 1813, the early 19 th century (GRK and MeB populations) saw a rise in agriculture and the overall economy, which was followed by rapid rates of industrialization and wage increases during the late 19 th century (MeB population).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Developmental instability and its relationship to mental health in two historic Dutch populations

Hagg

Merwe

Steyn

2017

International Journal of Paleopathology

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This study aimed to assess the magnitude and patterns of fluctuating asymmetry as an indicator of developmental instability between two urban archeological Dutch populations. The sample comprised of 209 adult individuals representing the general population of Alkmaar, the Netherlands, dating to the 18th to early 19th century (Grote Kerk, n=134), and a psychiatric hospital sample of the 19th to early 20th century (Meerenberg, n=75). Fluctuating asymmetry was assessed from left and right measurements recorded from various traits on the cranium, mandible, and dentition. Three non-specific skeletal indicators of stress were documented to aid in the interpretation of the differences in asymmetry. No significant difference in developmental instability, as reflected by fluctuating asymmetry, was apparent between the two populations. However, individuals who presented with skeletal lesions indicative of stress were significantly more asymmetric than individuals who did not present with any of the lesions. The observed frequencies of the pathological changes and socio-economic history suggest that the two populations experienced similar levels of stress, even though the source and duration of the stress might have been different. The possibility that the mentally institutionalized are not as developmentally unstable as suggested by previous research should be considered.

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“…In the Low Countries, authorities set up Banken van Leening (licensed pawn banks) to replace private agencies. In the United States model philanthropic pawn houses included the Collateral Loan Company set up in Boston in 1859 and the Provident Loan Society established in New York in 1894 (Caskey 1994; Furher 2001; McCants 2007; Woloson 2012; Deneweth, Gelderblom and Jonker 2014; Murhem 2016).…”

Section: IImentioning

confidence: 99%

The ‘untimely’ demise of a successful institution: the ItalianMonti di pietàin the nineteenth century

Carboni

Fornasari

2019

Financial History Review

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Recent literature has clearly charted the growth of pawn credit in nineteenth-century developing countries in Europe. Such expansion has frequently been associated with governments’ concerns to prevent malpractice and promote the establishment of public agencies that mirrored the Italian Monti di pietà. Precisely at the time modernizing European societies adopted the model of Italian public pawn banks, Monti were being dismissed as a relic of a bygone age in their home country. Assembling and comparing data from an 1896 national survey, we conclude that, contrary to traditional assumptions, Italian pawn banks were not obsolete or out of place in the European context of nineteenth-century pawn credit. However, ideology and hostile legislation did hamper the access to credit of those most in need, and the choice hardly assisted the modernizing spurt of Italian society.

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Microfinance and the Decline of Poverty: Evidence From the Nineteenth-Century Netherlands

Cited by 19 publications

References 32 publications

On the relationship between inequality and entrepreneurship

On the relationship between inequality and entrepreneurship

Developmental instability and its relationship to mental health in two historic Dutch populations

The ‘untimely’ demise of a successful institution: the ItalianMonti di pietàin the nineteenth century

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