Guilds and middle-class welfare, 1550-1800: provisions for burial, sickness, old age, and widowhood
Guilds provided for masters' and journeymen's burial, sickness, old age, and widowhood. Guild welfare was of importance to artisans, to the functioning of guilds, to the myriad of urban social relations, and to the political economy. However, it is an understated and neglected aspect of gu...
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| Published in | The Economic history review Vol. 65; no. 1; pp. 61 - 90 |
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| Main Author | |
| Format | Journal Article |
| Language | English |
| Published |
Oxford, UK
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
01.02.2012
Blackwell Publishing Blackwell |
| Subjects | |
| Online Access | Get full text |
| ISSN | 0013-0117 1468-0289 |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2011.00602.x |
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| Summary: | Guilds provided for masters' and journeymen's burial, sickness, old age, and widowhood. Guild welfare was of importance to artisans, to the functioning of guilds, to the myriad of urban social relations, and to the political economy. However, it is an understated and neglected aspect of guild activities. This article looks at welfare provision by guilds, with the aim of addressing four questions. Firstly, for which risks did guild welfare arrangements exist in the Netherlands between 1550 and 1800, and what were the coverage, contributions, benefit levels, and conditions? Secondly, can guild welfare arrangements be regarded as insurance? Thirdly, to what extent and how did guilds overcome classic insurance problems such as adverse selection, moral hazards, and correlated risks? Finally, what was the position of guild provision in the Dutch political economy and vis-à-vis poor relief? |
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| Bibliography: | istex:E4DAD8E14A63F8C2841D3A6F11A27DCBBB895DB7 This article has benefited from research carried out at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam (hereafter IISG) on guilds and on the history of mutual aid, and in particular from data on the number of insurers between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries collated as part of that research. See Lourens and Lucassen, 'Gilden und Wanderung'; idem, 'Ambachtsgilden in Nederland'; idem, 'Ambachtsgilden binnen'; idem, ' "Zunftlandschaften" '; and de Munck, Lourens, and Lucassen, 'Establishment'. On mutual aid by guilds, see especially the rich study by Bos, 'Uyt liefde tot malcander', and van Leeuwen, De rijke Republiek. In reworking material from my book for this article I have tried to add observations of a more general nature. I am grateful to Chris Gordon, Clé Lesger, Jan Lucassen, Piet Lourens, Elise Nederveen Meerkerk, and also to the anonymous referees of this journal for their very valuable comments. I am also grateful to Jan Lucassen and Piet Lourens for their generosity in sharing their data with me. All quotations from non-English language sources have been translated by the author. ArticleID:EHR602 ark:/67375/WNG-4CF1R9XW-4 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 14 ObjectType-Article-2 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 |
| ISSN: | 0013-0117 1468-0289 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2011.00602.x |