Wie wil wachten op het zoet? De laatste adem van Amsterdamse kopers van Groningse lijfrenten, 1660-1760

This article analyses the financial relationship between Groningen and Holland. On the one hand, the interregional public debt Groningen’s provincial administration issued formed important means of financing. But it eventually became a heavy burden that Groningen carried along with it for decades. The problem was caused by the default on the Dutch investors in life annuities. Among these were a number of Amsterdam regents. The Groningen regents claimed inability to meet its financial obligations. Yet the creditors argued that unwillingness was the cause. This stalemate determined the political and economic relations between Groningen and Holland, until well into the eighteenth century. The States-General’s intermediation helped Groningen to keep the powerful Holland creditors at bay. A lack of consensus among the creditors prevented that they ended this default sooner.