Political Transformations and Public Finances
Europe, 1650–1913

Mark Dincecco examines the long-term evolution of political regimes and public finances in Europe.

Mark Dincecco (Author)

9780521192330, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 September 2011

250 pages, 23 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.54 kg

'This book conclusively establishes that it was the institutional innovations of state centralization and representative government that created the modern fiscal state in Europe. A fundamental work.' James A. Robinson, Harvard University

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.

1. Weak and strong states in historical perspective
2. Gaining force: from fragmentation to centralization
3. Restricting power: from absolutism to limited government
4. Political regimes and credit risk
5. Two mechanisms
6. Letting the data speak for themselves
7. Estimating the fiscal effects of political regimes
8. The institutional balance of modern fiscal states.

Subject Areas: Economic history [KCZ], Development economics & emerging economies [KCM], Economic growth [KCG]