Fiscal Crises, Liberty, and Representative Government 1450-1789

Fiscal Crises, Liberty, and Representative Government 1450-1789 PDF Author: Philip T. Hoffman
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 9780804741927
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
These essays focus on the growth of representative institutions and the mechanics of European state finance from the end of the Middle Ages to the French Revolution.

Fiscal Crises, Liberty, and Representative Government 1450-1789

Fiscal Crises, Liberty, and Representative Government 1450-1789 PDF Author: Philip T. Hoffman
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 9780804741927
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
These essays focus on the growth of representative institutions and the mechanics of European state finance from the end of the Middle Ages to the French Revolution.

Growth in a Traditional Society

Growth in a Traditional Society PDF Author: Philip T. Hoffman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780691029832
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
Making a strong case for the use of economic analysis in studying history and culture, Philip Hoffman shatters the widespread myth that traditional agricultural societies in early modern Europe were socially and economically stagnant - and ultimately depended on wide-scale political revolution for their growth. Through a richly detailed historical investigation of the peasant agriculture of ancien-regime France, the author uncovers evidence that requires a new understanding of what constituted economic growth in such societies. His arguments rest on a measurement of long-term growth that enables him to analyze the economic, institutional, and political factors that explain its forms and rhythms. In comparing France with England and Germany, Hoffman arrives at fresh answers to some classic questions: Did French agriculture lag behind farming in other countries? If so, did the obstacles in French agriculture lurk within peasant society itself, in the peasants' culture, in their communal property rights, or in the small scale of their farms? Or did the obstacles hide elsewhere, in politics, in the tax system, or in meager opportunities for trade? The author discovers that growth cannot be explained by culture, property rights, or farm size, and argues that the real causes of growth derived from politics and gains from trade. By challenging other widely held beliefs, such as the nature of the commons and the workings of the rural economy, Hoffman offers a new analysis of peasant society and culture, one based on microeconomics and game theory and intended for a wide range of social scientists.

Conflict and Governance

Conflict and Governance PDF Author: Amihai Glazer
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3662051214
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
Conflict appears in many forms, from a dictator terrorizing his country to organized crime demanding protection money. Questions and issues addressed in this text include: the conditions which make conflict severe; whether voluntary agreements can avoid future conflict; how the outcome of one war will affect the incentives of countries to wage war in the future; and how dictators hold power. The book provides an overview of existing literature, applies the theory of conflict to new situations, and gives foundations for future work. It should interest both researchers and students studying political economy, public choice, international relations, and comparative politics.

State, Economy and the Great Divergence

State, Economy and the Great Divergence PDF Author: Peer Vries
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472526406
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 513

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Book Description
State, Economy and the Great Divergence provides a new analysis of what has become the central debate in global economic history: the 'great divergence' between European and Asian growth. Focusing on early modern China and Western Europe, in particular Great Britain, this book offers a new level of detail on comparative state formation that has wide-reaching implications for European, Eurasian and global history. Beginning with an overview of the historiography, Peer Vries goes on to extend and develop the debate, critically engaging with the huge volume of literature published on the topic to date. Incorporating recent insights, he offers a compelling alternative to the claims to East-West equivalence, or Asian superiority, which have come to dominate discourse surrounding this issue. This is a vital update to a key issue in global economic history and, as such, is essential reading for students and scholars interested in keeping up to speed with the on-going debates.

Political Transformations and Public Finances

Political Transformations and Public Finances PDF Author: Mark Dincecco
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139501917
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
How did today's rich states first establish modern fiscal systems? To answer this question, Political Transformations and Public Finances by Mark Dincecco examines the evolution of political regimes and public finances in Europe over the long term. The book argues that the emergence of efficient fiscal institutions was the result of two fundamental political transformations that resolved long-standing problems of fiscal fragmentation and absolutism. States gained tax force through fiscal centralization and restricted ruler power through parliamentary limits, which enabled them to gather large tax revenues and channel funds toward public services with positive economic benefits. Using a novel combination of descriptive, case study and statistical methods, the book pursues this argument through a systematic investigation of a new panel database that spans eleven countries and four centuries. The book's findings are significant for our understanding of economic history and have important consequences for current policy debates.

Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe

Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe PDF Author: Sheri Berman
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199373191
Category : Democracy
Languages : en
Pages : 561

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Book Description
Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe examines the development of various political regimes in Europe from the ancien regime up through the present day. It analyzes why democracy flourishes at some times and in some places but not others and draws lessons from European history that can help us better understand the political situation the world finds itself in today.

Charles V and the Castilian Assembly of the Clergy

Charles V and the Castilian Assembly of the Clergy PDF Author: Sean T. Perrone
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004171169
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
The Castilian Assembly of the Clergy has been overlooked in the scholarship on church-state relations and representative institutions in the early modern period. This oversight has distorted our understanding of political practice, royal finance, and church-state relations in sixteenth-century Castile. By examining the negotiations for subsidies between the crown and the Assembly, this book illuminates the dynamics between church and state and the limits of royal control over the church, and it challenges long-held conventions about the monolithic structure of the Spanish church and its subservience to the crown. The negotiations for subsidies also demonstrate the importance of consensus in the political process and how the Assembly sustained itself and its privileges for centuries through collaboration with the crown.

Downsizing Democracy

Downsizing Democracy PDF Author: Matthew A. Crenson
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 142143735X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 375

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Book Description
Originally publushed in 2002. In Downsizing Democracy, Matthew A. Crenson and Benjamin Ginsberg describe how the once powerful idea of a collective citizenry has given way to a concept of personal, autonomous democracy. Today, political change is effected through litigation, lobbying, and term limits, rather than active participation in the political process, resulting in narrow special interest groups dominating state and federal decision-making. At a time when an American's investment in the democratic process has largely been reduced to an annual contribution to a political party or organization, Downsizing Democracy offers a critical reassessment of American democracy.

The Military Revolution Debate

The Military Revolution Debate PDF Author: Clifford J Rogers
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429964811
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
This book brings together, for the first time, the classic articles that began and have shaped the debate about the Military Revolution in early modern Europe, adding important new essays by eminent historians of early modern Europe to further this important scholarly interchange.

Lending to the Borrower from Hell

Lending to the Borrower from Hell PDF Author: Mauricio Drelichman
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 069117377X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
What the loans and defaults of a sixteenth-century Spanish king can tell us about sovereign debt today Why do lenders time and again loan money to sovereign borrowers who promptly go bankrupt? When can this type of lending work? As the United States and many European nations struggle with mountains of debt, historical precedents can offer valuable insights. Lending to the Borrower from Hell looks at one famous case—the debts and defaults of Philip II of Spain. Ruling over one of the largest and most powerful empires in history, King Philip defaulted four times. Yet he never lost access to capital markets and could borrow again within a year or two of each default. Exploring the shrewd reasoning of the lenders who continued to offer money, Mauricio Drelichman and Hans-Joachim Voth analyze the lessons from this important historical example. Using detailed new evidence collected from sixteenth-century archives, Drelichman and Voth examine the incentives and returns of lenders. They provide powerful evidence that in the right situations, lenders not only survive despite defaults—they thrive. Drelichman and Voth also demonstrate that debt markets cope well, despite massive fluctuations in expenditure and revenue, when lending functions like insurance. The authors unearth unique sixteenth-century loan contracts that offered highly effective risk sharing between the king and his lenders, with payment obligations reduced in bad times. A fascinating story of finance and empire, Lending to the Borrower from Hell offers an intelligent model for keeping economies safe in times of sovereign debt crises and defaults.