Public Economics and History: A Review of Fiscal Regimes and the Political Economy of Premodern States, Edited by Andrew Monson and Walter Scheidel
Journal of Economic Literature
vol. 55,
no. 4, December 2017
(pp. 1556-69)
Abstract
Fiscal Regimes and the Political Economy of Premodern States greatly expands our knowledge of the history of premodern fiscal systems and raises important questions about the political economy of premodern states. Answering those questions can help explain how states developed the capacity to tax; why tax levels and government-spending patterns varied greatly in the past, even though per capita incomes were similar; how government debt and representative institutions arose; and, last but not least, why some premodern states expanded and others collapsed. But firm answers to those questions will have to combine the history outlined in Fiscal Regimes and the Political Economy of Premodern States with systematic data and formal models of political economy.Citation
Hoffman, Philip T. 2017. "Public Economics and History: A Review of Fiscal Regimes and the Political Economy of Premodern States, Edited by Andrew Monson and Walter Scheidel." Journal of Economic Literature, 55 (4): 1556-69. DOI: 10.1257/jel.20151348Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- E62 Fiscal Policy
- H20 Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue: General
- H50 National Government Expenditures and Related Policies: General
- N40 Economic History: Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation: General, International, or Comparative