Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T06:20:32.838Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Marketing Sovereign Promises: The English Model

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2015

GARY W. COX
GARY W. COX*
Affiliation:
Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science, 616 Serra Street, Encina Hall West, Room 100, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-6044. E-mail: gwcox@stanford.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The difficulty sovereign actors face in making their promises credible is widely appreciated (e.g., North and Weingast 1989; Myerson 2008). In this article, I argue that the English repeatedly used institutions of monopoly brokerage to mediate trades between the sovereign (offering various promises) and subjects (offering revenues). Once set up—at different times in different markets—institutions of monopoly brokerage sparked substantial and abrupt growth in state revenues. Moreover, these revenue increases cannot be explained by changes in promise-holders’ ability to punish nonperformance, changes in the preferences of pivotal state decision makers, or changes in high constitutional structure alone.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 75 , Issue 1 , March 2015 , pp. 190 - 218
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

I thank Lucy Barnes, Michael Braddick, Torun Dewan, Tiberiu Dragu, Jean-Laurent Rosenthal, participants at seminars at LSE and Harvard, and anonymous reviewers for their comments; and Eliana Vasquez for help in preparing the manuscript.

References

REFERENCES

Akerlof, George,.The Market for ‘Lemons’: Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 84, no. 3 (1970): 488–500.Google Scholar
Albert, W. The Turnpike Road System in England, 1663–1840. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972.Google Scholar
Alt, James, David Lassen, Dreyer, and Skilling, David. Fiscal Transparency, Gubernatorial Approval, and the Scale of Government: Evidence from the States. State Politics & Policy Quarterly, 2, no. 3 (2002): 230–50.Google Scholar
An essay on the sinking fund; wherein the nature thereof is fully explained; and the right of the publick to that fund asserted and maintained. The second edition, corrected and much enlarged. Printed for J Peele, at Locke's Head, in Amen-Corner, 1737.Google Scholar
Barzel, Yoram, and Kiser, Edgar. Taxation and Voting Rights in Medieval England and France. Rationality and Society, 14, no. 4 (2002): 473–507.Google Scholar
Besley, Timothy. Principled Agents? The Political Economy of Good Government. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.Google Scholar
Bogart, Dan,.Did the Glorious Revolution Contribute to the Transport Revolution? Evidence from Investment in Roads and Rivers. Economic History Review, 64, no. 4 (2011): 1073–112.Google Scholar
Bogart, Dan, and Richardson, Gary. Making Property Productive: Reorganizing Rights to Real and Equitable Estates in Britain, 1600-1830. European Review of Economic History 13(2009): 3–30.Google Scholar
Bogart, Dan, and Richardson, Gary. Parliament and Property Rights in Industrializing Britain. Journal of Law and Economics, 54, no. 2 (2011): 241–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braddick, Michael J. The Nerves of State: Taxation and the Financing of the English State, 1558–1714. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1996.Google Scholar
Broz, J. Lawrence, and Grossman, Richard. Paying for Privilege: The Political Economy of Bank of England Charters, 1694 – 1844. Explorations in Economic History 41, no.1 (2004): 48–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlos, Ann, Fletcher, Erin K., Neal, Larry, and Wandschneider, Kirsten. Financing and Refinancing the War of the Succession Spanish, and Refinancing Then the South Sea Company. In Questioning Credible Commitment, edited by D'Maris, Coffman, Leonard, Adrian, and Neal, Larry, 147–68. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014.Google Scholar
Cheyney, E. P. Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European History, Vol. 1, No. 6. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1897.Google Scholar
Clark, Gregory,.The Political Foundations of Modern Economic Growth: England, 1540 – 1800. Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 26, no. 4 (1996): 563–88.Google Scholar
Coke, Sir Edward. The reports of Sir Edward Coke, knt. [1572–1617] in English, in thirteen parts complete; with references to all the ancient and modern books of the law. Exactly translated, and compared with the first and last edition in French, and printed page for page with the same. To which are now added the respective pleadings, in English. The whole newly revised and carefully corrected and translated with many additional notes and references, by George Wilson. London: J. Rivington, 1777.Google Scholar
Cox, Gary W. War, Moral Hazard and Ministerial Responsibility: England after the Glorious Revolution. The Journal of Economic History, 71, no. 1 (2011): 120–48.Google Scholar
Cox, Gary W.. Was the Glorious Revolution a Constitutional Watershed? The Journal of Economic History, 72, no. 3 (2012): 567–600.Google Scholar
Defoe, Daniel,. An Essay Upon Publick Credit, & c. Printed and sold by the book-sellers, 1710.Google Scholar
Dickson, P.G.M. The Financial Revolution in England. London: Macmillan, 1967.Google Scholar
Dixit, Avinash, and Londregan, John. Political Power and the Credibility of Government Debt. Journal of Economic Theory, 94, no. 1 (2000): 80–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eaton, Jonathan, and Gersovitz, Mark. Debt with Potential Repudiation: Theoretical and Empirical Analysis. Review of Economic Studies, 48, no. 2 (1981): 289–309.Google Scholar
Eggers, Andrew, and Hainmueller, Jens. MPs for Sale: Estimating Returns to Office in Post-War British Politics. American Political Science Review, 103, no. 4 (2009): 513–33.Google Scholar
Einzig, Paul. The Control of the Purse. London: Secker & Warburg, 1959.Google Scholar
Epstein, Stephan. Freedom and Growth: The Rise of States and Markets in Europe, 1300–1750. London: Routledge, 2000.Google Scholar
Ferejohn, John,.Accountability and Authority: Toward a Theory of Political Accountability. In Democracy, Accountability, and Representation, editors Przeworski, Adam, Stokes, Susan C., and Manin, Bernard, 131–53. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Grotius, Hugo. [1625]. The Law of War and Peace. New York: W J Black, 1949.Google Scholar
Guembel, Alexander, and Sussman, Oren. Sovereign Debt without Default Penalties. Review of Economic Studies, 76, no. 4 (2009): 1297–320.Google Scholar
Harris, Ron. Industrializing English Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Hayton, David W. The House of Commons. 1690–1715 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.Google Scholar
Hill, Brian W. The Change of Government and the ‘Loss of the City’, 1710 – 1711. Economic History Review, 24, no. 3 (1971): 395–413.Google Scholar
Hoppit, Julian, ed. Failed Legislation, 1660–1800. London: Hambledon Press, 1997.Google Scholar
James, I. The True Lawe of Free Monarchies. Edinburgh: Robert Waldegrave, 1598.Google Scholar
Jha, Saumitra,.Financial Innovations and Political Development: Evidence from Revolutionary England. Unpublished typescript, Stanford University, 2012.Google Scholar
Johnson, Noel, and Koyama, Mark. Tax Farming and the Origins of State Capacity in England and France. Explorations in Economic History, 51, no. 1 (2014): 1–20.Google Scholar
Klerman, Daniel, and Mahoney, Paul. The Value of Judicial Independence: Evidence from Eighteenth Century England. American Law and Economics Review, 7, no. 1 (2005): 1–27.Google Scholar
Lamoreaux, Naomi,.Scylla or Charybdis? Historical Reflections on Two Basic Problems of Corporate Governance. Business History Review, 83, no. 1 (2009): 9–34.Google Scholar
Lamoreaux, Naomi,.The Mystery of Property Rights: A U.S. Perspective. The Journal of Economic History, 71, no. 2 (2011): 275–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Locke, John. Two Treatises of Government. London: Awnsham Churchill, 1690.Google Scholar
Machiavelli, Niccoló. [1513]. The Prince. In >The Portable Machiavelli, edited by Bondanella, Peter and Musa, Mark, 77–166. New York: Penguin, 1979.Google Scholar
Maitland, Frederic William. The Constitutional History of England. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1913.Google Scholar
Major, J. Russell. Representative Institutions in Renaissance France, 1421–1559. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1960.Google Scholar
Marongiu, Antonio. Medieval Parliaments: A Comparative Study. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1968.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Brian R. Abstract of British Historical Statistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1962.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Brian R. British Historical Statistics. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1988.Google Scholar
Morrill, John Stephen. Cheshire 1630–1660: County Government and Society During the English Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1974.Google Scholar
Murphy, Anne L. Demanding ‘Credible Commitment’: Public Reactions to the Failures of the Early Financial Revolution. Economic History Review, 66, no. 1 (2013): 178–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myerson, Roger,.The Autocrat's Credibility Problem and Foundations of the Constitutional State. American Political Science Review, 102, no. 1 (2008): 125–40.Google Scholar
North, Douglass, and Weingast, Barry. Constitutions and Commitment: The Evolution of Institutions Governing Public Choice in Seventeenth-Century Britain. The Journal of Economic History, 49, no. 4 (1989): 803–32.Google Scholar
O'Brien, Patrick,.The Political Economy of British Taxation, 1660 – 1815. Economic History Review 2nd Series 41, no. 1 (1988): 1–32.Google Scholar
O'Brien, Patrick. Fiscal and Financial Preconditions for the Rise of British Naval Hegemony 1485 – 1815. Working Paper No. 91/05, Department of Economic History, London School of Economics, London, 2005.Google Scholar
Payling, Simon,.The House of Commons, 1307 – 1529. In A Short History of Parliament, edited by Jones, Clyve, 75–85. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2009.Google Scholar
Power, Eileen. The Wool Trade in English Medieval History, Being the Ford Lectures. London: Oxford University Press, 1942.Google Scholar
Pincus, Steven, and Robinson, James. What Really Happened During the Glorious Revolution? NBER Working Paper 17206, 2011.Google Scholar
Quinn, Stephen,.Questioning a Stylized Fact: When Did the Bank of England Become a Delegated Bureaucrat? Unpublished typescript, Texas Christian University, 2004.Google Scholar
Quinn, Stephen. Securitization of Sovereign Debt: Corporations as a Sovereign Debt Restructuring Mechanism in Britain, 1694 to 1750. Unpublished typescript, Texas Christian University, 2008.Google Scholar
Root, Hilton,.Tying the King's Hands: Credible Commitment and Royal Fiscal Policy During the Old Regime. Rationality and Society, 1, no. 2 (1989): 240–58.Google Scholar
Roseveare, Henry. The Financial Revolution: 1660–1760. London: Longman, 1991.Google Scholar
Rydz, D.L. The Parliamentary Agents. London: Royal Historical Society, 1979.Google Scholar
Shaw, William A., ed. Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 9. London: Printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1931.Google Scholar
Shaw, William A. ed. Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 21. London: Printed for Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1952.Google Scholar
Stasavage, David. Public Debt and the Birth of the Democratic State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.Google Scholar
Stasavage, David. Partisan Politics and Public Debt: The Importance of the ‘Whig Supremacy’ for Britain's Financial Revolution. European Review of Economic History, 11, no. 01 (2007): 123–53.Google Scholar
Sussman, Nathan, and Yafeh, Yishay. Institutional Reforms, Financial Developments and Sovereign Debt: Britain 1690 – 1790. The Journal of Economic History, 66, no. 3 (2006): 906–35.Google Scholar
Todd, Alpheus. On parliamentary Government in England. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1867.Google Scholar
van Caenegem, R. C. The Birth of the English Common Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973.Google Scholar
Waugh, Scott L. England in the Reign of Edward III. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.Google Scholar
Weingast, Barry R. The Political Foundations of Limited Government: Parliament and Sovereign Debt in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century England. In The Frontiers of the New Institutional Economics, edited by Brobak, John N. and Nye, John V.C., 213–46. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, 1997.Google Scholar
Wiener, Frederick,.The Register of Writs: Seed-Bed of the Common Law. American Bar Association Journal 58 (1972): 498–504.Google Scholar