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Consumer demand in the Industrial Revolution: The Netherlands, 1815-1913
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Abstract
The industrial revolution is mostly seen as a supply side phenomenon. Ever since Gilboy stated that factors of demand may have been equally important, scholars have stressed the importance of investments and technological change. This paper re-considers Gilboy?s ideas, using the dataset of the Dutch historical national accounts for the nineteenth century. Using a counterfactual VAR analysis, it is investigated to what extent changes in (determinants of) consumer demand may have affected patterns of industrial development.