Careers and Wages in the Dutch East India Company
Working Paper No. 12-W08
Claudia Rei
ABSTRACT[article]
In the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, inter-continental trade brought with it a novel form of
organizing business: the multinational firm. Headquartered in Europe and
operating in Asia, the success of the East India Companies depended
largely on the management of overseas outposts, as well as their labor
force. Using a dataset of 115 workers hired in Europe to work in Asia, I
present the internal structure of civil servants careers and wages in
the Dutch East India Company in the eighteenth century. This early
modern firm mimics well current theories of internal labor markets:
there are stable career paths, fast tracks in promotions, and sizable
returns to tenure.
Keywords and Phrases: merchant empires, careers, returns to tenure
JEL Classification Numbers: J31, N33