Jan de Vries, born in Ouder-Amstel, the Netherlands, in 1943. Ph.D. from Yale University, New Haven. Sidney Hellman Ehrman Professor of History and Economics at the University of California, Berkeley.
Fellow (1 September 2005 – 31 January 2006)
THE INDUSTRIOUS REVOLUTION: CONSUMER DEMAND AND ECONOMIC GROWTH SINCE 1650
My project at NIAS was the writing of a book on which I have been conducting research for the past six years. Its topic is, The Industrious Revolution: the emergence of a new, modern, form of consumer behavior in the course of the ‘long eighteenth century’ (1650-1850) and the interaction of the new consumer aspirations of this era with the production side of the economy in northwestern Europe and North America. During my time at NIAS I succeeded in writing nearly finished drafts of the five chapters that compose the book. This was my objective for my stay at NIAS, so I left in January 2006 with regret, but also with the sense that I had made good use of my time at NIAS, and that NIAS had provided ideal support, especially library support, and an ideal environment in which to bring a large project to completion. I expect publication of the book in early 2007.