The State and its Revenues in ancien-régime France

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“…Thanks to the Italian merchant-bankers, Lyon became the beating heart of the European economy in the 15 th century: silk drapes, wool cloths, spices and other luxury goods were exchanged along the Rhone (Boyer-Xambeau; Deleplace;Gillard, 1991). The rapid growth of these fairs has frequently been ascribed to French public finance (Bonney, 1992(Bonney, , 1995Dent, 1973), but it is likely to presume that their success could be attributed to the efforts of the Genoese and other Italian bankers as well ( Cassandro, 1979). In fact, it important to remember that in France during those years many drastic measures in monetary policies actually tended to weaken the institution of the fair, but provoked repercussions in the region's domestic economy instead (Spooner, 1956;Bonney, 1981).…”

From privatized to government‐administered tax collection: tax farming in eighteenth‐century France1

“…argued that the tax farmers were hated because they appeared to benefit enormously from the collection of taxes and the high rates of interest on loans to the state 34 . Most recently, Bonney concluded that the tax farm was a system that ‘seemed out of control and carried too high an overhead cost’ 35…”

“…64–5. However, taxation in France varied more by region and by class, requiring harsh enforcement and producing considerable hostility to the tax regime. 4 Mousnier, Institutions of France , p. 463. 5 Bonney, ‘State and its revenues’, discusses several European states and Brewer, Sinews of power , examines the change in Britain. 6 White, ‘Was there a solution?’, pp. 545–50, provides further data on the royal budgets. 7 The fundamental work is Stiglitz, ‘Incentives and risk sharing’.…”

“…33–4. 32 Sedillot, La Coût de la Révolution, p. 236. 33 Matthews, Royal general farms, p. 269. 34 Aftalion, L’Économie de la Révolution française , pp. 29–31. 35 Bonney, ‘State and its revenues’, p. 156. 36 For a discussion of the efforts to enforce the salt and tobacco monopolies, see Bourquin and Hepp, Aspects de la contrebande ; Durand, Les Fermiers Généraux , p. 50; Matthews, Royal general farms, pp. 107–14. 37 Collas, La Contrebande.…”

“… 5 Bonney, ‘State and its revenues’, discusses several European states and Brewer, Sinews of power , examines the change in Britain.…”