The development of agricultural production and productivity is measured and explained with reference to the theories of 'modern economic growth' caused by specialization and technical change (S. Kuznets), and of 'traditional economic growth' induced by population growth (E. Boserup). In the first half of the century a process of 'traditional economic growth' took place; after 1850 this was gradually replaced by a process of 'modern economic growth'. The forces behind this transition are analysed. Special attention is paid to the eastern Netherlands, where a kind of 'peasant economy' was transformed into a modern, market oriented agriculture, a process which had been rather neglected in Dutch historiography. The relation between the modernization of the agricultural sector and changes in the social structure of the countryside is analysed, showing that after 1880 there was a connection between rapid economic growth and an increase in equality.</p
