IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/30754.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Dissecting the Sinews of Power: International Trade and the Rise of Britain’s Fiscal-Military State, 1689-1823

Author

Listed:
  • Ernesto Dal Bó
  • Karolina Hutková
  • Lukas Leucht
  • Noam Yuchtman

Abstract

We evaluate the role of taxes on trade in the development of imperial Britain’s fiscal-military state. Influential work, e.g., Brewer’s (1989) "Sinews of Power," attributed increased fiscal capacity to the taxation of domestic, rather than traded, goods: excise revenues, coarsely associated with domestic goods, grew faster than customs revenues. We construct new historical revenue series disaggregating excise revenues from traded and domestic goods. We find substantial growth in taxes on traded goods, accounting for over half of indirect taxation around 1800. This challenges the conventional wisdom attributing the development of the British state to domestic factors: international factors mattered, too.

Suggested Citation

  • Ernesto Dal Bó & Karolina Hutková & Lukas Leucht & Noam Yuchtman, 2022. "Dissecting the Sinews of Power: International Trade and the Rise of Britain’s Fiscal-Military State, 1689-1823," NBER Working Papers 30754, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30754
    Note: DEV EFG PE POL
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w30754.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. de Vries, Jan, 1994. "The Industrial Revolution and the Industrious Revolution," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 54(2), pages 249-270, June.
    2. Timothy Besley & Torsten Persson, 2009. "The Origins of State Capacity: Property Rights, Taxation, and Politics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(4), pages 1218-1244, September.
    3. Dincecco,Mark, 2013. "Political Transformations and Public Finances," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107617759, October.
    4. Charles Angelucci & Simone Meraglia & Nico Voigtländer, 2022. "How Merchant Towns Shaped Parliaments: From the Norman Conquest of England to the Great Reform Act," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(10), pages 3441-3487, October.
    5. Allen,Robert C., 2009. "The British Industrial Revolution in Global Perspective," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521868273, October.
    6. Nicola Gennaioli & Hans-Joachim Voth, 2015. "State Capacity and Military Conflict," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 82(4), pages 1409-1448.
    7. North, Douglass C. & Weingast, Barry R., 1989. "Constitutions and Commitment: The Evolution of Institutions Governing Public Choice in Seventeenth-Century England," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 49(4), pages 803-832, December.
    8. António Henriques & Nuno Palma, 2023. "Comparative European Institutions and the Little Divergence, 1385–1800," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 259-294, June.
    9. Ashworth, William J., 2003. "Customs and Excise: Trade, Production, and Consumption in England 1640-1845," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199259212.
    10. Nuno Palma, 2016. "Sailing away from Malthus: intercontinental trade and European economic growth, 1500–1800," Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 10(2), pages 129-149, may.
    11. D’Maris Coffman, 2013. "Excise Taxation and the Origins of Public Debt," Palgrave Studies in the History of Finance, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-137-37155-3, February.
    12. Hoppit,Julian, 2017. "Britain's Political Economies," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107015258.
    13. Hoppit,Julian, 2017. "Britain's Political Economies," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781316649909.
    14. J.V. Beckett & Michael Turner, 1990. "Taxation and economic growth in eighteenth-century England," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 43(3), pages 377-403, August.
    15. Patrick O'Brien & Trevor Griffiths & Philip Hunt, 1991. "Political components of the industrial revolution: Parliament and the English cotton textile industry, 1660-1774," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 44(3), pages 395-423, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dal Bo, Ernesto & Hutkova, Karolina & Leucht, Lukas & Yuchtman, Noam Meir, 2023. "Dissecting the sinews of power: international trade and the rise of Britain's fiscal-military state, 1689-1823," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 121310, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Geloso, Vincent J. & Salter, Alexander W., 2020. "State capacity and economic development: Causal mechanism or correlative filter?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 372-385.
    3. Alberto Bisin & Jared Rubin & Avner Seror & Thierry Verdier, 2024. "Culture, institutions and the long divergence," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 1-40, March.
    4. Patrick K. O'Brien & Nuno Palma, 2023. "Not an ordinary bank but a great engine of state: The Bank of England and the British economy, 1694–1844," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(1), pages 305-329, February.
    5. Noel D., Johnson & Mark, Koyama, 2012. "Standardizing the fiscal state: cabal tax farming as an Intermediate Institution in early-modern England and France," MPRA Paper 40403, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. De Magalhaes, Leandro & Giovannoni, Francesco, 2022. "War and the rise of parliaments," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    7. Leonor Freire Costa & Paulo Brito, 2018. "Why did people pay taxes? Fiscal innovation in Portugal and state making in times of political struggle (1500-1680)," Working Papers GHES - Office of Economic and Social History 2018/59, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, GHES - Social and Economic History Research Unit, Universidade de Lisboa.
    8. Johnson, Noel D. & Koyama, Mark, 2014. "Tax farming and the origins of state capacity in England and France," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1-20.
    9. Grajzl, Peter & Murrell, Peter, 2021. "A machine-learning history of English caselaw and legal ideas prior to the Industrial Revolution I: generating and interpreting the estimates," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(1), pages 1-19, February.
    10. D'Maris Coffman & Judy Z. Stephenson & Nathan Sussman, 2022. "Financing the rebuilding of the City of London after the Great Fire of 1666," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(4), pages 1120-1150, November.
    11. Dan Bogart, 2016. "The East Indian Monopoly and the Transition from Limited Access in England, 1600–1813," NBER Chapters, in: Organizations, Civil Society, and the Roots of Development, pages 23-49, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Dincecco, Mark & Katz, Gabriel, 2012. "State Capacity and Long-Run Performance," MPRA Paper 38299, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Broadberry Stephen, 2012. "Recent Developments in the Theory of Very Long Run Growth: A Historical Appraisal," Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte / Economic History Yearbook, De Gruyter, vol. 53(1), pages 277-306, May.
    14. Meissner, Christopher M., 2014. "Growth from Globalization? A View from the Very Long Run," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 8, pages 1033-1069, Elsevier.
    15. Cheng, Hua & Gawande, Kishore & Qi, Shusen, 2022. "State capacity, economic output, and public goods in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    16. Elisa Borghi & Donato Masciandaro, 2023. "Political Elites, Urban Institutions And Long-Run Persistence : The King Owned Towns," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 23193, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    17. Stephen Broadberry, 2024. "British Economic Growth and Development," Springer Books, in: Claude Diebolt & Michael Haupert (ed.), Handbook of Cliometrics, edition 3, pages 951-986, Springer.
    18. Irigoin, A, 2012. "Bounded Leviathan: or why North & Weingast are only right on the right half," MPRA Paper 39722, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Leonor Freire Costa & Susana Münch Miranda, 2023. "Reputational recovery under political instability: Public debt in Portugal, 1641–83," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(3), pages 871-891, August.
    20. Tunçer, Ali Coşkun & Weller, Leonardo, 2022. "Democracy, autocracy, and sovereign debt: How polity influenced country risk on the peripheries of the global economy, 1870–1913," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • N43 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • P1 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:30754. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.