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Guilds.
§Medieval guilds.
§Institutional structure for preserving and diffusing productive knowledge.
§Integrated insurance, safety-net, and other functions.
§Decline of guilds.
§Competition from rural industry.
§State policy weakens guilds in England and the Netherlands, strengthens them in France.
Rembrandt, The Syndics of the Clothmaker's Guild (The Staalmeesters) 1662.  Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.