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No Utopia: Government Without Territorial Monopoly in Medieval Central Europe

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  • Oliver Volckart

Abstract

The paper examines the questions of how nonterritorial feudal governments in medieval central Europe emerged and what their tasks were, of how competition between these governments functioned, and of what consequences it had. The analysis leads to three hypotheses: (1) governmental nonterritoriality was mainly due to high monitoring costs, (2) intergovernmental competition entailed a high demand both for labor and for military security, and (3) competition had consequences that themselves undermined its viability and allowed governments with territorial monopolies to emerge. The paper shows furthermore why it is impossible under modern conditions to establish nonterritorial governments.

Suggested Citation

  • Oliver Volckart, 2002. "No Utopia: Government Without Territorial Monopoly in Medieval Central Europe," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 158(2), pages 325-343, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:mhr:jinste:urn:sici:0932-4569(200206)158:2_325:nugwtm_2.0.tx_2-6
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Vincent Geloso & Peter T. Leeson, 2020. "Are Anarcho-Capitalists Insane? Medieval Icelandic Conflict Institutions in Comparative Perspective," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 130(6), pages 957-974.
    2. Chilosi, David, 2014. "Risky Institutions: Political Regimes and the Cost of Public Borrowing in Early Modern Italy," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 74(3), pages 887-915, September.
    3. Theresa Finley & Mark Koyama, 2018. "Plague, Politics, and Pogroms: The Black Death, the Rule of Law, and the Persecution of Jews in the Holy Roman Empire," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(2), pages 253-277.
    4. Alexander Fink, 2015. "Governance without a state? Policies and politics in areas of limited statehood meets positive political economy of anarchy: A review essay," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 28(1), pages 93-105, March.
    5. Schaff, Felix, 2020. "When ‘the state made war’, what happened to economic inequality? Evidence from preindustrial Germany (c.1400-1800)," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 107046, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. ., 2019. "Economic theory of non-territorial unbundling," Chapters, in: The Political Economy of Non-Territorial Exit, chapter 1, pages 14-38, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Giampaolo Garzarelli, 2005. "Old and New Theories of Fiscal Federalism, Organizational Design Problems, and Tiebout," Public Economics 0509009, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Vahabi,Mehrdad, 2019. "The Political Economy of Predation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107591370.
    9. Schaff, Felix S.F., 2023. "Warfare and Economic Inequality: Evidence from Preindustrial Germany (c. 1400-1800)," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    10. Ennio E. Piano, 2019. "State capacity and public choice: a critical survey," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 178(1), pages 289-309, January.
    11. Schaff, Felix, 2020. "When ‘the state made war’, what happened to economic inequality? Evidence from preindustrial Germany (c.1400-1800)," Economic History Working Papers 107046, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    12. Volckart, Oliver, 2004. "The economics of feuding in late medieval Germany," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 282-299, July.
    13. Trent J. MacDonald, 2019. "The Political Economy of Non-Territorial Exit," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 18871.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H1 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods
    • H7 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations
    • N4 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation

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