While some European countries, such as England and Germany, began to industrialize in theeighteenth century, the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Norway, and Swedendeveloped later. All four of these countries lagged considerably behind in the early nineteenth century.However, they industrialized rapidly in the second half of the century, especially in the last two or threedecades. In view of their later start and their lack of coal—undoubtedly the main reason they were notamong the early industrializers—it is important to understand the sources of their success.
        All had small populations. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Denmark and Norway hadfewer than 1 million people, while Sweden and the Netherlands had fewerthan 2.5 million inhabitants.__31__. Density varied greatly. The Netherlands had one of the highest population densities in Europe,whereas Norway and Sweden had the lowest. Denmark was in between but closer to the Netherlands.
       Considering human capital as a characteristic of the population, however, all four countries wereadvantaged by the large percentages of their populations who could read and write. In both 1850 and 1914, the Scandinavian countries had the highest literacy rates in Europe, or in the world, and theNetherlands was well above the European average. __32__.
       Location was an important factor for all four countries. All had immediate access to the sea, and thishad important implications for a significant international resource, fish, as well as for cheap transport,merchant marines, and the shipbuilding industry. Each took advantage of these opportunities in its ownway. The people of the Netherlands, with a long tradition of fisheries and mercantile shipping, haddifficulty in developing good harbors suitable for steamships: eventually they did so at Rotterdam andAmsterdam, with exceptional results for transit trade with Germany and central Europe and for theprocessing of overseas foodstuffs and raw materials (sugar, tobacco, chocolate, grain, and eventually oil).
 __33__. In 1857, in return for a payment of 63 million kronor from other commercial nations, Denmarkabolished the Sound toll dues the fees it had collected since 1497 for the use of the Sound. This, alongwith other policy shifts toward free trade, resulted in a significant increase in traffic through the Soundand in the port of Copenhagen.
       The political institutions of the four countries posed no significant barriers to industrialization oreconomic growth. The nineteenth century passed relatively peacefully for these countries, withprogressive democratization taking place in all of them. They were reasonably well governed, withoutnotable corruption or grandiose state projects, although in all of them the government gave some aid torailways, and in Sweden the state built the main lines. __34__. In Denmark and Sweden agriculturalreforms took place gradually from the late eighteenth century through the first half of the nineteenth,resulting in a new class of peasant landowners with a definite market orientation.
 The key factor in the success of these countries (along with high literacy, which contributed to it)was their ability to adapt to the international division of labor determined by the early industrializers andto stake out areas of specialization in international markets for which they were especially well suited.
 __35__. In Sweden exports accounted for 18 percent of the national incomein 1870, and in 1913, 22percent of a much larger national income. In the early twentieth century, Denmark exported 63 percent ofits agricultural production: butter, pork products, and eggs. It exported 80 percent of its butter, almost allto Great Britain, where it accounted for 40 percent of British butter imports.(AB) As small countries dependent on foreign markets, they followed a liberal trade policy in the main,though a protectionist movement developed in Sweden.
(AC) All exhibited moderate growth rates in the course of the century (Denmark the highest and Swedenthe lowest), but all more than doubled in population by 1900.(AD) During this period, Sweden had the highest rate of growth of output per capita of any country inEurope, and Denmark was second.(AE) Denmark also had an admirable commercial history, particularly with respect to traffic through theSound (the strait separating Denmark and Sweden).(BC) This fact was of enormous value in helping the national economies find their niches in the evolvingcurrents of the international economy.(BD) This meant a great dependence on international commerce, which had notorious fluctuations； but italso meant high returns to those factors of production that were fortunate enough to be well placed intimes of prosperity.
【題組】31. ________