Completing a Financial Revolution: The Finance of the Dutch East India Trade and the Rise of the Amsterdam Capital Market, 1595–1612

The article analyzes the evolution of the Amsterdam capital market as a consequence of Dutch overseas expansion and the introduction of transferable VOC shares. Offering investors prospects of speculative gains without serious loss of liquidity, these instruments created a booming secondary market offering a wide range of allied credit techniques. By 1609 this market had become sufficiently strong to dictate terms for new public debt issues. These findings show that, contrary to commonly held notions about the emergence of secondary markets, private finance took precedence over public finance in the Dutch Republic. apital markets exist to accumulate and distribute savings. Their performance depends on the successful marrying of two inherently opposed requirements. Savers want liquidity, i.e., the possibility of converting their assets back into cash at low cost and short notice. On the other hand, investors need continuity, an assured supply of capital for the duration of the venture concerned.1 Economic historians of th