Growth and Structural Change in the Netherlands and Other OECD Economies

Abstract

This chapter analyses the economic performance of Netherlands relative to other countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and reflects briefly upon Dutch economic policy. Dutch productivity growth compared with other OECD economies was remarkable from mid-1980s, showing that wage restraint freed up resources for investment. After successful steps were taken in the 1980s and 1990s to form a common market and an economic and monetary union, institutional differences within Europe restricted coherence and unification. Capital market inflation drove innovation in banking systems, new forms of alliances, and new financial products, aided by ICT. Netherlands was a quick adapter of new ICT technologies, partly because of its highly skilled labor force and partly because of its focus on international trade and services. In Netherlands, various policy measures that sometimes have been called neoliberal were developed in a coordinated, deliberative setting in answer to economic and technological change.Keywords: capitalism; economic growth; institutional convergence; Netherlands; OECD economies; technological change