Public Debt and the Birth of the Democratic State: France and Great Britain 1688–1789

by David Stasavage

• ISBN13: 9780521809672
• ISBN10: 0521809673
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-04-28
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book develops new theory about the link between debt and democracy and applies it to a classic historical comparison: Great Britain in the eighteenth century which had strong representative institutions and sound public finance vs. ancient regime France, which had neither. The book argues that whether representative institutions improve commitment depends on the opportunities for government creditors to form new coalitions with other social groups, more likely to occur when a society is divided across multiple political cleavages. It then presents historical evidence to show that improved access to finance in Great Britain after 1688 had as much to do with the development of the Whig Party as with constitutional changes. In France, it is suggested that the balance of partisan forces made it unlikely that an early adoption of 'English-style' institutions would have improved credibility.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	1	(25)
A Model of Credible Commitment under Representative Government	26	(25)
Historical Background: Sovereign Borrowing in Europe before 1688	51	(17)
Trends in French and British Sovereign Borrowing, 1689--1789	68	(31)
Partisan Politics and Public Debt in Great Britain, 1689--1742	99	(31)
Partisan Politics and Public Debt in France, 1689--1789	130	(25)
Stability of Representative Institutions in France and Great Britain	155	(18)
Conclusion	173	(10)
Appendix	183	(6)
References	189	(18)
Index	207