The costs and benefits of microfinance : The market for Dutch East India Company transportbriefen in 18th century Amsterdam
Contemporary institutions engaged in extending micro-loans do not usually grant such loans to the poor due to the latters’ inability to provide appropriate collateral and their insufficient creditworthiness. In modern times the Dutch East-India Company created a financial instrument called the “transportbrief” which enabled poor employees of the Company to obtain loans on the financial market. The