Arthur van Riel is senior research fellow at the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy. His earlier books and papers covered Dutch early modern and 19th century economic history and the political economy of the Weimar Republic. He has also published on a variety of policy issues, among which the European Monetary Union and the evolution of money, banking and private debt.

Trials of Convergence analyses the nineteenth century industrialization of the Netherlands from the perspective of prices and factor costs. It shows that its retarded transition was due to the confluent effect of open economy forces, endowments and the erratic adjustment of economic and fiscal institutions.