Is the Polder Model Good for the Economy?: A New Interpretation of Dutch Economic and Social History

The book Nederland en het poldermodel [The Netherlands and the Polder Model] is a commendable effort to present a new, theory-informed interpretation of the economic and social history of the Netherlands of the last thousand years. However, this review questions the supposed causal relationship between civil society (‘polder model’) and economic growth. The authors assume that economic growth emanates from a vibrant civil society and that likewise economic decline coincides with a weakening of civil society. Upon closer inspection however, their concepts seem to be imperfectly related to the t... Mehr ...