Jan Luiten van Zanden (born 15 November 1955) is a Dutch

economic historian Economic history is the academic learning of economies or economic events of the past. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the application of economic theory to historical situations and inst ...

and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

of Global Economic History at

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollm ...

. He is a widely acknowledged specialist in Dutch, European and Global Economic History.

Career

Van Zanden graduated cum laude in Economics from the

VU University Amsterdam The Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (abbreviated as ''VU Amsterdam'' or simply ''VU'' when in context) is a public research university in Amsterdam, Netherlands, being founded in 1880. The VU Amsterdam is one of two large, publicly funded researc ...

in 1981. He received a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

from

Wageningen University and Research Centre Wageningen University & Research (also known as Wageningen UR; abbreviation: WUR) is a public university in Wageningen, Netherlands, specializing in life sciences with a focus on agriculture, technical and engineering subjects. It is a globally ...

in 1985 with a thesis titled ''"The economic development of Dutch agriculture in the 19th century, 1800-1914."'' After obtaining his PhD he worked for two years at

Erasmus University Rotterdam Erasmus University Rotterdam (abbreviated as ''EUR'', nl, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam ) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century humanis ...

. From 1987 to 1993 he was professor of economic and social history at the

. In 1992 he was appointed professor in history at

and since 2009 is faculty professor of economic and social history. In addition, in 2010 (for a period of five years) he was appointed honorary professor as the Maddison Chair at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. Founded in 1614, the university is the ...

. From 2011 is honorary professor at the

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...

. He was particularly concerned with the economic history of the Netherlands in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but also with the economic history of Indonesia, with the history of

Rabobank Rabobank (; full name: ''Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A.'') is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Utrecht, Netherlands. The group comprises 89 local Dutch Rabobanks (2019), a central organisation (Raboban ...

and that of

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yor ...

Awards and memberships

In 2003 he was awarded the

Spinoza Prize The Spinoza Prize ( nl, Spinozapremie) is an annual award of 2.5 million euro, to be spent on new research given by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The award is the highest scientific award in the Netherlands. It is named after the philosopher ...

by the

Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research The Dutch Research Council (NWO, Dutch: Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek) is the national research council of the Netherlands. NWO funds thousands of top researchers at universities and institutes and steers the course o ...

, for "putting the entire Dutch economic history on the international map and for leading excellent research projects". In 1997 he became a member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

, where he was Academy Professor from 2011 to 2016. In 2009, he was president of the organising committee of the fifteenth World Economic History Congress 2009 in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Nethe ...

. In 2014 he was awarded the Pierson Penning Prize and in 2016 he became a member of the

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...

Select Publications

Books

Van Zanden has authored and co-authored several books including: * with Maarten Prak: ''Nederland en het Poldermodel. Sociaal-economische geschiedenis van Nederland 1000-2000'', Amsterdam: Bert Bakker, 2013. * with Daan Marks: ''An Economic History of Indonesia 1800-2010'', London: Routledge, 2012 (Translated to Indonesian) * ''The Long Road to the Industrial Revolution. The European Economy in a Global Perspective, 1000-1800.'' Leiden, Brill Publishers, 2009. * with Stephen Howarth, Joost Jonker, Keetie Sluyterman: ''A History of Royal Dutch Shell'', 4 delen, Amsterdam, Boom Publishers/Oxford University Press, 2007 * with Tine de Moor: ''Vrouwen en de geboorte van het kapitalisme in West-Europa'', Amsterdam, Boom Publishers, 2006. * with A. van Riel: ''The Strictures of Inheritance. The Dutch Economy in the Nineteenth Century'', Princeton University Press, 2004 **Nederlandse uitgave: ''Nederland 1780-1914. Staat, instituties en economische ontwikkeling.'' Amsterdam, Balans, 2000. * with J.-P. Smits, E. Horlings: ''Dutch GNP and its Components, 1800-1913'', Groningen; Growth and Development Centre, 2000, Online * with Keetie Sluyterman, Joost Dankers, Jos van der Linden: ''Het Coöperatieve Alternatief. Honderd Jaar Rabobank 1898-1998'', Den Haag, 1998. * with Lee Soltow: ''Income and Wealth Inequality in the Netherlands 1500-1990'', Het Spinhuis; Amsterdam, 1998. * ''The economic history of the Netherlands in the 20th century.'' Routledge; London, 1997 **Nederlandse vertaling: ''Een klein land in de lange twintigste eeuw.'' Het Spectrum; Utrecht, 1997. * with Wybren Verstegen: ''Groene Geschiedenis van Nederland'', Utrecht: Het Spectrum, 1993. * ''Arbeid tijdens het handelskapitalisme. Een nieuwe interpretatie van de opkomst en de achteruitgang van de economie van Holland, 1350-1850''. Bergen, 1991. **Engelse vertaling: ''The Rise and Decline of Holland's economy. Merchant Capitalism and the Labour Market''. Manchester University Press, 1993. * with P. Boomgaard: ''Food crops and arable land, Java 1815-1942, Changing Economy in Indonesia'', Band 10, Royal Tropical Institute; Amsterdam, 1990. * with R. T. Griffiths: ''Economische geschiedenis van Nederland in de twintigste eeuw'', Het Spectrum; Utrecht, 1989. * ''De industrialisatie in Amsterdam 1825-1914'', Octavo: Bergen, 1987. * ''De economische ontwikkeling van de Nederlandse landbouw in de negentiende eeuw'', 1800–1914. Wageningen, 1985 (proefschrift) **Engelse uitgave: ''The Transformation of European Agriculture in the 19th Century: The Case of the Netherlands'', VU University Press, 1994.

References

External links

Profile
on Catalog Professorum Academiae Rheno-Traiectinae
Profile
on Catalog Professorum Academiae Groninganae {{DEFAULTSORT:Zanden, Jan Luiten van 1955 births Living people Dutch economists Utrecht University faculty Spinoza Prize winners Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Economic historians Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam alumni Wageningen University and Research alumni Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam faculty University of Groningen faculty People from Velsen