ABSTRACT
This chapter identifies an important historical undercurrent in Dutch economics which continues well into the twentieth century. It examines more closely the ideas of historical Quack, the neoclassical Pierson and the compromising Greven. In the first decades of the twentieth century, historical and chair-socialist economics remained an influence in Dutch economics. The debate on the historical school inspires clashes between the younger and the older generation of Dutch economists, the liberal and more socialist-inspired, the Christian and the secular politicians and economists. The historical school left its traces not only in Dutch economics as an academic discipline but also in society at large. This chapter shows how socialism debate developed as a clash of generations. The older generation got training in the tradition of the classical school of economics and upheld its orthodox-liberal position towards economic policy. The younger generation is sympathetic towards the ideas of the socialists of the chair and its foundation in teachings of the historical school.
