IThe Economic History of the Netherlands condenses all the most contemporary data and analysis into one convenient volume. In the first four chapters the author analyzes the long term development of the economy in detail, including the rise and decline of managerial enterprise, the growth and fall of trade unions, and the expansion and crisis of the welfare state. The second part of the book deals with different periods of growth and periods of relative stagnation. Van Zanden also examines the role of the Netherlands in the process of European integration.