Polder model

[citation needed] An important role in this process was played by the Dutch Central Planning Bureau (CPB), founded by Jan Tinbergen.

The CPB's policy advice since 1976, in particular with the Den Hartog and Tjan model, in favour of wage restraint, was an important argument, supportive for government and employers, that the unions could not easily counter.

In an article reliant on the work of Coen Helderman,[9] Kuipers argues that the modern socioeconomic polder model already manifested itself in 1920 with the Dutch High Council of Labour.

It follows that the polder model is therefore much older and could have had a larger influence on Dutch society and economy than previously thought.

In the declining economic climate of the early 21st century, the model came under fierce attack particularly from right-wing politicians and Pim Fortuyn in his book entitled De puinhopen van acht jaar Paars (The Wreckage of Eight Years Purple).

During the postwar period, the Catholic, Protestant, Christian, social-democratic, and liberal parties decided to work together to reconstruct the Netherlands, as did labour unions and employers' organizations.

[citation needed] A third explanation refers to a unique aspect of the Netherlands, that it consists in large part of polders, land reclaimed from the sea, which requires constant pumping and maintenance of the dykes.