Patriots, the poor and economic progress: Economic societies in the Netherlands

The first economic society in the Netherlands was formed in the late eighteenth century by the so-called ‘Economic Patriots’. In 1777 they founded the Oeconomical Branch of the Dutch Society of Sciences. Its successor still lives on under the name of Nederlandse Maatschappij voor Nijverheid en Handel (Dutch Society for Industry and Trade). After the revolution of 1795, the Oeconomical Branch became an independent advisory body of the new republican government.