The Era of the Guilds: Mutual Insurance 1550–1800

Marco H. D. Leeuwen
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Marco H. D. Leeuwen: Utrecht University

Chapter 2 in Mutual Insurance 1550-2015, 2016, pp 17-82 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract This chapter traces mutual insurance, mainly that provided by the guilds in the Netherlands, from the earliest date the sources allow (1550) to the dissolution of the guilds (c. 1800). It traces the number of schemes, their type (for burial, sickness, old age, or widowhood), and their nature in terms of premiums, conditions of eligibility, and allowances. It also deals with how and why these schemes originated, and how they were able to sustain themselves—notwithstanding the perennial problems of correlated risks, moral hazards, and adverse selection. We discuss the micro-nature of the schemes, their place in the world of the artisan and in the political economy and the mixed economy of welfare. We discuss, too, the social component of those schemes.

Keywords: Eighteenth Century; Moral Hazard; Adverse Selection; Sickness Benefit; Capital Endowment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:psitcp:978-1-137-53110-0_2

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DOI: 10.1057/978-1-137-53110-0_2

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