ABSTRACT
It is not easy to write an economic history of the Netherlands in the twentieth century. First there is the problem of abundance: the number of relevant historical, economic, sociological and political studies is enormous. It is almost impossible to write anything on recent developments in the labour market or on the effects of government policies on economic growth without confining yourself in a library for many weeks. And even then you cannot be sure that you will not miss the most recent ‘pioneering’ dissertation on the subject. As a result, once an economic historian starts writing he is more than once seized by the fear that he failed to find the most recent papers which provide the definitive solution to his problem; there is always the temptation to continue reading.
