Kim Sung-jae
The author is a business administration professor at Furman University and the author of “The Story of Tariffs” (2025).
The Netherlands, located at the mouth of the Rhine, built a strong shipbuilding and maritime industry on the strength of its geographic advantages. Its refining sector also flourished around Royal Dutch Shell, once among the world’s largest oil companies. Manufacturing was equally competitive, symbolized by Philips Electronics and Unilever consumer goods. By the 1970s, the Netherlands ranked among Europe’s top five industrial economies.
A gas extraction site in Bierum, the Netherlands, is closed on March 10. Despite the sharpest rise in European gas prices in years due to the ongoing war between the United States and Israel against Iran, reopening the Groningen field for gas extraction is not an option due to the significant safety risks. [EPA/YONHAP]
Then came an unexpected windfall. In 1959, one of the world’s largest natural gas fields was discovered in Groningen. The Netherlands connected European countries through pipelines and became a major supplier of gas. After the 1973 oil shock sent natural gas prices soaring, the country accumulated enormous current account surpluses. The government used rising tax revenues to expand welfare programs. Disability insurance and unemployment benefits grew dramatically, and public spending eventually accounted for 57 percent of GDP, far above the 30 to 40 percent typical of other advanced economies.
