ABSTRACT
The early strength of the Dutch was in trade and shipping. In the first part of the seventeenth century, the Netherlands was the leading commercial and mari time nation in the world.4 In 1602, the United East Indies Company (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) became the world’s first company to offer shares to the public. The Amsterdam Stock Exchange (Amsterdamse Effectenbeurs) traces its origin to the launching of that famous enterprise, making it the world’s oldest stock exchange.5 1 John Goodear Abert, Economic Policy and Planning in the Netherlands, 1950-1965 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1969), p. 1. 2 The Dutch Economy: Recent Developments and Prospects (The Hague: Federation of Netherlands Industry (VNO), December 1990), p. 4. 3 Department of Economics and Statistics, National Accounts 1976-1988 (Paris: OECD, 1990). 4 The Dutch Economy, op. cit., p. 3. 5 While the Paris Bourse had its beginnings in 1138, members of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange claim that there is no evidence that the Paris market involved the purchase and sale of shares of stock, while there is definite proof that shares were being traded in Amsterdam as early as 1602. Wilford J. Eiteman and David K. Eiteman, Leading World Stock Exchanges: Trading Practices and Organization (Ann Arbor, MI: Bureau of Business Research, The University of Michigan, 1964), pp. 23, 40.
