Fiscal Regimes and the Political Economy of Premodern States

The first ever global survey of tax systems and their social and political contexts in premodern world history.

Andrew Monson (Edited by), Walter Scheidel (Edited by)

9781107460966, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 8 November 2018

602 pages, 22 b/w illus. 3 maps 19 tables
23 x 15.3 x 3.4 cm, 0.92 kg

'… the volume performs a valuable service for historians (and sociologists) of all stripes.' J. Howard-Johnston, The English Historical Review

Inspired by the new fiscal history, this book represents the first global survey of taxation in the premodern world. What emerges is a rich variety of institutions, including experiments with sophisticated instruments such as sovereign debt and fiduciary money, challenging the notion of a typical premodern stage of fiscal development. The studies also reveal patterns and correlations across widely dispersed societies that shed light on the basic factors driving the intensification, abatement, and innovation of fiscal regimes. Twenty scholars have contributed perspectives from a wide range of fields besides history, including anthropology, economics, political science and sociology. The volume's coverage extends beyond Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Near East to East Asia and the Americas, thereby transcending the Eurocentric approach of most scholarship on fiscal history.

Introduction
1. Studying fiscal regimes Andrew Monson and Walter Scheidel
Part I. Diversity and Commonalities in Early Extraction Regimes: 2. The Inka empire Terence N. D'Altroy
3. The Aztec empire Michael E. Smith
4. The Ancient Near East and Egypt Michael Jursa and Juan Carlos Morena García
Part II. Determinants of Intensification and Abatement: 5. Hellenistic empires Andrew Monson
6. The Roman republic James Tan
7. The early Roman monarchy Walter Scheidel
8. The later Roman empire Gilles Bransbourg
9. Early imperial China, from Qin/Han through Tang Mark E. Lewis
10. Imperial China under the Song and late Qing Kent Gang Deng
Part III. Divergent Trends among Established Regimes: 11. Late Rome, Byzantium and early medieval western Europe John Haldon
12. The Middle East in Islamic late antiquity Hugh Kennedy
13. The Ottoman empire Metin M. Co?gel
14. Early modern Japan Philip C. Brown
Part IV. Fragmented Political Ecologies and Institutional Innovation: 15. The Greek polis and koinon Emily Mackil
16. Classical Athens Josiah Ober
17. Why did public debt originate in Europe? David Stasavage
Part V. Comparative Perspectives and New Frontiers: 18. Tributary empires and the New Fiscal Sociology: some comparative reflections Peter F. Bang
19. Interpreting the comparative history of fiscal regimes Edgar Kiser and Margaret Levi.

Subject Areas: Economic history [KCZ], Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1]