ABSTRACT
This chapter estimates the organization of foreign trade in England with that of the Dutch Republic between 1550 and 1650 to evaluate the effects that different commercial regimes had on the growth of trade. It presents a document the different ways in which the Dutch and English organized long-distance trade between 1550 and 1650. First it establishes the extent to which the chartering of companies in England led to the exclusion of capable entrepreneurs and possibly to under-investment in long-distance trade. The chapter considers the attempts by the respective governments to extract revenue from long-distance trade. Finally, it compares the development of capital markets in the two countries and in doing so, seek the following: merchants in the Low Countries able to borrow at lower rates than their counterparts in England; this is in any way due to differences in institutional arrangements and did the available financial institutions influence the quest for funds by the Dutch and English government.
