Political Transformations and Public Finances - Europe, 1650-1913 (Broché)

How did today's rich states first establish modern fiscal systems ? To answer this question, this book 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 longstanding problems of fiscal fragmentation and absolutism.
States gained tax force through fiscal centralization and restricted the power of rulers through parliamentary limits, which enabled them to gather large tax revenues and channel funds toward public services with positive economic benefits. Using a novel combinaban 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.