Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T09:06:53.100Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Warfare, Taxation, and Political Change: Evidence from the Italian Risorgimento

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2011

MARK DINCECCO ,
GIOVANNI FEDERICO  and
ANDREA VINDIGNI
MARK DINCECCO*
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor, IMT Lucca Institute for Advanced Studies, Piazza San Ponziano 6, Lucca, Italy 55100. Email: [email protected].
GIOVANNI FEDERICO*
Affiliation:
Senior Research Fellow, European University Institute, Via Boccaccio 121, Florence, Italy 50133. Email: [email protected].
ANDREA VINDIGNI*
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, IMT Lucca Institute for Advanced Studies, Piazza San Ponziano 6, Lucca, Italy 55100. Email: [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We examine the relationships between warfare, taxation, and political change in the context of the political unification of the Italian peninsula. Using a comprehensive new database, we argue that external and internal threat environments had significant implications for the demand for military strength, which in turn had important ramifications for fiscal policy and the likelihood of constitutional reform and related improvements in the provision of nonmilitary public services. Our analytic narrative complements recent theoretical and econometric works about state capacity. By emphasizing public finances, we also uncover novel insights about the forces underlying state formation in Italy.

“The budget is the skeleton of the state, stripped of any misleading ideologies.”

Sociologist Rudolf Goldscheid, 19261

Type
ARTICLES
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 71 , Issue 4 , December 2011 , pp. 887 - 914
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 2011

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.)

References

REFERENCES

Acemoglu, D. “Politics and Economics in Weak and Strong States.” Journal of Monetary Economics 52, no. 7 (2005): 1199–1226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Acemoglu, D. “Institutions, Factor Prices, and Taxation: Virtues of Strong States?” American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings 100 (2010): 115–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Acemoglu, D., Cantoni, D., Johnson, S., and Robinson, J.. “The Consequences of Radical Reform: The French Revolution.” Forthcoming. American Economic Review.Google Scholar
Acemoglu, D., and Robinson, J.. “Why Did the West Extend the Franchise? Democracy, Inequality, and Growth in Historical Perspective.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 115, no. 4 (2000): 1167–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Acemoglu, D., Ticchi, D., and Vindigni, A.. “A Theory of Military Dictatorships.” American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics 2, no. 1 (2010): 1–42.Google Scholar
Acemoglu, D., Ticchi, D., and Vindigni, A.. “Emergence and Persistence of Inefficient States.” Journal of the European Economic Association 9, no. 2 (2011): 177–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banti, A. La nazione del Risorgimento. Turin: Einaudi 2000.Google Scholar
Bates, R. Prosperity and Violence. New York: Norton, 2001.Google Scholar
Berta, G. “Un circuito finanziario dell'Ottocento: gli Hambro e l'Italia.” Annali di Storia dell'impresa 4 (1988): 63 111.Google Scholar
Besley, T., and Persson, T.. “Wars and State Capacity.” Journal of the European Economic Association 6, no. 2–3 (2008): 522–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Besley, T., and Persson, T.. “The Origins of State Capacity: Property Rights, Taxation, and Politics.” American Economic Review 99, no. 4 (2009): 1218–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Besley, T., and Persson, T.. “State Capacity, Conflict, and Development.” Econometrica 78, no. 1 (2010): 1–34.Google Scholar
Brewer, J. The Sinews of Power. London: Unwin Hyman 1989.Google Scholar
Brunetti, A., Felice, E., and Vecchi, G.. “Reddito.” In Il benessere degli italiani dall'Unità a oggi, edited by Vecchi, G., 209–34. Bologna: Mulino 2011.Google Scholar
Candeloro, G. Storia dell'Italia moderna. Milan: Feltrinelli, 1956–1965.Google Scholar
Carano-Donvito, G. L'economia meridionale prima e dopo il Risorgimento. Florence: Vallecchi 1928.Google Scholar
Cardoso, J., and Lains, P.. Paying for the Liberal State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ciasca, R. L'origine del “Programma per l'opinione nazionale italiana” del 1847–8. Milan: Dante Alighieri 1916.Google Scholar
Corbino, E. Annali dell'economia italiana, volumi I–V. Città di Castello: Leonardo da Vinci, 1931.Google Scholar
Cox, G. “War, Moral Hazard, and Ministerial Responsibility: England After the Glorious Revolution.” The Journal of Economic History 71, no. 1 (2011): 133–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daniele, V., and Malanima, P.. “Il prodotto delle regioni e il divario Nord-Sud in Italia, 1861–2004.” Rivista di Politica Economica 97, no. 4 (2007): 267–315.Google Scholar
Del Pane, L. La finanza Toscana dagli inizi del secolo XVIII alla caduta del Granducato. Milan: Banca Commerciale Italiana 1965.Google Scholar
Di Gianfrancesco, M. “La politica commerciale degli stati sardi dal 1814 al 1859.” Rassegna Storica del Risorgimento 61, no. 1 (1974): 3–36.Google Scholar
Dincecco, M. “Fiscal Centralization, Limited Government, and Public Revenues in Europe, 1650–1913.” The Journal of Economic History 69, no. 1 (2009): 48–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dincecco, M. Political Transformations and Public Finances. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drukker, D. “Testing for Serial Correlation in Linear Panel-Data Models.” Stata Journal 3, no. 2 (2003): 168–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epstein, S. Freedom and Growth. London: Routledge 2000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Federico, G. “The First European Grain Invasion.” Mimeo, European University Institute, 2008.Google Scholar
Felisini, D. Le finanze pontificie ed i Rotschild. Naples: Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane 1990.Google Scholar
Felloni, G. “Le entrate degli Stati Sabaudi dal 1825 al 1860.” Archivio economico dell'Unificazione Italiana, volumi 3–4, fascicolo 2, 1959.Google Scholar
Ferguson, N., and Schularick, M.. “The Empire Effect: Determinants of Country Risk in the First Age of Globalization, 1880–1913.” The Journal of Economic History 66, no. 2 (2006): 283–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flandreau, M., and Zumer, F.. The Making of Global Finance, 1880–1913. Paris: OECD 2004.Google Scholar
Flora, E. “Lo Statuto Albertino e l'avvento del regime parlamentare nel Regno di Sardegna.” Rassegna Storica del Risorgimento 44, no. 1 (1958): 26–38.Google Scholar
Friz, G. “Le strade dello Stato Pontificio nel XIX secolo.” Archivio economico dell'Unificazione Italiana, volume 16, fascicolo 1, 1967.Google Scholar
Ghisalberti, C. Storia costituzionale d'Italia, 1848–1948. Bari: Laterza 1974.Google Scholar
Good, D., and Ma, T.. “The Economic Growth of Central and Eastern Europe in Comparative Perspective, 1870–1989.” European Review of Economic History 3, no. 2 (1999): 103–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hearder, H. Italy in the Age of the Risorgimento, 1790–1870. London: Longman 1983.Google Scholar
Herbst, J. States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control.Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Hoechle, D. “Robust Standard Errors for Panel Regressions with Cross-Sectional Dependence.” Stata Journal 7, no. 3 (2007): 281–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffman, P. “Why Was It That Europeans Conquered the World?” Mimeo, California Institute of Technology, 2009.Google Scholar
Hoffman, P., and Rosenthal, J.-L.. “The Political Economy of Warfare and Taxation in Early Modern Europe.” In The Frontiers of the New Institutional Economics, edited by Drobak, J. and Nye, J., 31–55. St. Louis: Academic Press 1997.Google Scholar
Hoffman, P., and Rosenthal, J.-L.. “Divided We Fall: The Political Economy of Warfare and Taxation.” Mimeo, California Institute of Technology, 2000.Google Scholar
ISTAT. Sommario di statistiche storiche. Roma: ISTAT 1958.Google Scholar
Kang, D. Crony Capitalism: Corruption and Development in South Korea and the Phillipines. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levi, M. Of Rule and Revenue. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.Google Scholar
Lindert, P. Growing Public. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.Google Scholar
Macdonald, J. A Free Nation Deep in Debt.Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006.Google Scholar
Magnusson, L. Nation, State, and the Industrial Revolution. London: Routledge 2009.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malanima, P. “An Age of Decline: Product and Income in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Italy.” Rivista di Politica Economica 96, no. 1 (2006): 91–134.Google Scholar
Malanima, P. “Urbanization.” In The Cambridge Economic History of Modern Europe: Volume 1, 1700–1870, edited by Broadberry, S. and O'Rourke, K., 235–63. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.Google Scholar
Manetti, D. La “civil difesa.” Economia, finanza e sistema militare nel Granducato di Toscana, 1814–59. Florence: Olschki 2009.Google Scholar
Marongiu, G. Storia del fisco in Italia, volume II. 1996.Google Scholar
Migdal, J. Strong Societies and Weak States.Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988.Google Scholar
Mitchell, B. International Historical Statistics: Europe, 1750–2005. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.Google Scholar
North, D., and Weingast, B.. “Constitutions and Commitment: The Evolution of Institutions Governing Public Choice in Seventeenth-Century England.” The Journal of Economic History 49, no. 4 (1989): 803–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Brien, P. “Fiscal and Financial Preconditions for the Rise of British Naval Hegemony, 1485–1815.” Mimeo, London School of Economics, 2005.Google Scholar
Officer, L. “The Price of Gold, 1257–2009.” Measuring Worth, www.measuringworth.com, 2010.Google Scholar
Ostuni, N. Finanza ed economia nel regno delle Due Sicilie. Napoli: Liguori, 1992.Google Scholar
Parenti, G. “Le entrate del Granducato di Toscana dal 1825 al 1859.” Archivio economico dell'Unificazione Italiana, volume I, fascicolo 4, 1956.Google Scholar
Ragioneria generale dello Stato. Il bilancio dello Stato italiano dal 1862 al 1967. Roma: Poligrafico dello Stato, 1969.Google Scholar
Riall, L. The Italian Risorgimento. London: Routledge, 1994.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riker, W. Federalism. Boston: Little Brown, 1964.Google Scholar
Romani, M. Storia economica d'Italia nel secolo XIX, 1815–82. Bologna: Mulino, 1982.Google Scholar
Romeo, R. Il Risorgimento in Sicilia. Bari: Laterza, 1973. [Original edition, 1950]Google Scholar
Romeo, R. Cavour e il suo tempo, volume II: 1842–54. Bari: Laterza, 1984. [Second edition]Google Scholar
Romeo, R. Cavour e il suo tempo, volume III: 1854–61. Bari: Laterza, 1984.Google Scholar
Rossi Ragazzi, B. “Le entrate dello Stato Pontificio dal 1827 al 1859.” Archivio economico dell'Unificazione Italiana, volume I, fascicolo 4, 1956.Google Scholar
Scheve, K., and Stasavage, D.. “The Conscription of Wealth: Mass Warfare and the Demand for Progressive Taxation.” International Organization 64, no. 4 (2010): 529–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schultz, K., and Weingast, B.. “The Democratic Advantage: The Institutional Sources of State Power in International Competition.” Essays in Public Policy 67. Palo Alto, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 1996.Google Scholar
Schultz, K., and Weingast, B.. “Limited Governments, Powerful States.” In Strategic Politicians, Institutions, and Foreign Policy, edited by Siverson, R., 15–50. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998.Google Scholar
Shepherd, W. Historical Atlas. New York: Henry Holt, 1911.Google Scholar
Singer, D. “Reconstructing the Correlates of War Dataset on Material Capabilities of States, 1816–1985.” International Interactions 14, no. 2 (1987): 115–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spellanzon, C., and EDi Nolfo, .. Storia del Risorgimento e dell'Unità d'Italia. Milan: Rizzoli, 1933–1959.Google Scholar
Spoerer, M. “The Evolution of Public Finances in Nineteenth-Century Germany.” In Paying for the Liberal State: The Rise of Public Finance in Nineteenth-Century Europe, edited by Cardoso, J. and Lains, P., 103–31. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Storrs, C. War, Diplomacy, and the Rise of the Savoy, 1690–1720. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SVIMEZ. Un secolo di statistiche italiane, 1861–1961. Roma: SVIMEZ, 1961.Google Scholar
Tajani, F. Storia delle ferrovie italiane. Milan: Garzanti, 1939.Google Scholar
Ticchi, D., and Vindigni, A.. “War and Endogenous Democracy.” Mimeo, Princeton University, 2009.Google Scholar
Tilly, C. Coercion, Capital, and European States, 990–1990. Cambridge: Blackwell, 1990.Google Scholar
Uggè, A. “Le entrate del Regno Lombardo-Veneto dal 1840 al 1864.” Archivio economico dell'Unificazione Italiana, volume 1, fasciolo 5, 1956.Google Scholar
Wade, R. Governing the Market: Economic Theory and the Role of Government in East Asian Industrialization.Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wooldridge, J. Econometric Analysis of Cross-Section and Panel Data.Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2002.Google Scholar
Ziblatt, D. Structuring the State.Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006.CrossRefGoogle Scholar