the Dutch had improved on the Italian system of public debt {introducing, among other things, lottery loans which allowed people to gamble as they invested their savings in government debt}. They had also reformed their currency by creating what was arguably the world's first central bank, the Amsterdam Exchange Bank {Wisselbank}, which solved the problem of debased coinage by creating a reliable form of bank money {see Chapter 1}. But perhaps the single greatest Dutch invention of all was the joint-stock company.
( Niall Ferguson )
[ The Ascent of Money: A ]
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