States of Credit: Size, Power, and the Development of European Polities

David Stasavage

ISBN 10: 069114057X / ISBN 13: 9780691140575

Published by Princeton University Press, 2011

About this Item

Provides a look at the joint development of representative assemblies and public borrowing in Europe during the medieval and early modern eras. This title argues that advances in political representation allowed certain European states to gain early and advantageous access to credit. Series: The Princeton Economic History of the Western World. Num Pages: 208 pages, 9 line illus. 10 tables. 1 map. BIC Classification: 1D; 3H; 3J; KCZ; KFFD. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational; (U) Tertiary Education (US: College). Dimension: 241 x 162 x 20. Weight in Grams: 460. . 2011. Hardcover. . . . .

Seller Inventory # V9780691140575

Bibliographic Details

• Title: States of Credit: Size, Power, and the Development of European Polities
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication Date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 069114057X
• ISBN 13: 9780691140575
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

States of Credit provides the first comprehensive look at the joint development of representative assemblies and public borrowing in Europe during the medieval and early modern eras. In this pioneering book, David Stasavage argues that unique advances in political representation allowed certain European states to gain early and advantageous access to credit, but the emergence of an active form of political representation itself depended on two underlying factors: compact geography and a strong mercantile presence.


Stasavage shows that active representative assemblies were more likely to be sustained in geographically small polities. These assemblies, dominated by mercantile groups that lent to governments, were in turn more likely to preserve access to credit. Given these conditions, smaller European city-states, such as Genoa and Cologne, had an advantage over larger territorial states, including France and Castile, because mercantile elites structured political institutions in order to effectively monitor public credit. While creditor oversight of public funds became an asset for city-states in need of finance, Stasavage suggests that the long-run implications were more ambiguous. City-states with the best access to credit often had the most closed and oligarchic systems of representation, hindering their ability to accept new economic innovations. This eventually transformed certain city-states from economic dynamos into rentier republics.


Exploring the links between representation and debt in medieval and early modern Europe, States of Credit contributes to broad debates about state formation and Europe's economic rise.

About the Author

David Stasavage is professor of politics at New York University. He is the author of Public Debt and the Birth of the Democratic State.