• Jean-Baptiste-Colbert advised Louis XIV to master finance through account books
  • Recommended to note accounts of state finance manually
  • Warned that work was too important for anyone else
  • Saw need for traditional course in accounting and political economy
• Information on finance was available to commercial individuals and families
  • Merchants and account books allowed for currency and goods to move across borders
  • Between 14th and 16th century, Italians and Germans mastered private banking
• Dutch focus on state management through economy changed government at multiple levels
  • Reached economic dominance in the Golden Age of Jan de Witt (1618-1672)
  • Great monarchies began to adopt policies and culture of Dutch
• In 1609, Wisselbank in Amsterdam served to make payments instead of loans
  • By mid-century, Amsterdam had stock exchange and bank offered loans
  • Loans could be directly invested in shipping-merchandise futures
  • Stock exchange and East India Company were at center of world economy
• By 1660s, France, Britain, and Bradenburg-Prussia focused more on finance