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History of the Term Dutch Book

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Someone told me around 1987 that the term Dutch book had been invented when Dutch insurance companies for ships in the 19th century would organize and combine insurances in such a way as to make money whatever contingency occurred. When I later asked the person for references or evidence otherwise he did not know. The English language has several negative expressions using the term Dutch, such as Dutch uncle, Dutch treat, etc. This terminology seems to date from the 17th century, when Holland and England had powerful and rivalry fleets. The term Dutch book is in line with this tradition. I heard it say that Dutch book is a common term in horse racing and possibly it was taken from there. Lehman, R. (1955) writes that the term is known among professional bettors. I never investigated this possibility but it seems to be a plausible origin, in agreement with the linguistic tradition just mentioned. In horse racing, “making a book” means setting the betting odds and the “bookmaker” is the

History of the Term Dutch Book History of the Term Dutch Book by Peter P. Wakker 1. Introduction The origin of the term Dutch book is unknown to me, unfortunately. I spent quite some time trying to find out. In the modern literature, the term is mostly used in an informal sense, describing principles for dynamic decision situations. Such works are usually informal, leaving assumptions implicit and the domain of choice not defined formally. Sometimes choice options are added and deleted as the decision tree enroles in ways that essentially change the strategic situation (criticized by Machina,

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