Fiscal relations between states and cities in early modern Europe is a major concern for economic and financial historians. It is often argued that taxes levied on cities by states were draconian and disastrous for economic growth. This study calls for a more nuanced understanding of taxation by focusing on a broad range of urban fiscal systems to look at how cities used debt to generate wealth.
The essays in this collection are based on archives across Europe. They demonstrate that the impact of indirect taxation was considerably less negative than previously thought
Introduction - Michael Limberger and José Ignacio Andrés Ucendo
1 Urban fiscal systems and economic cycles in Milan on the long run (16th-17th Centuries): Some quantitative and qualitative remarks - Giuseppe De Luca and Giuseppe Bognetti
2 From private to public management: Fiscal system and tax farming in Rome, 1630-1701 - Fausto Piola Caselli
3 Urban fiscal systems in the kingdom of Naples, 17th-18th centuries - Alessandra Bulgarelli Lukacs
4 Taxation and Debt in the Early Modern Castilian Cities: The Case of Seventeenth-Century Madrid - José Ignacio Andrés Ucendo and Ramón Lanza García
5 Tax collection in Spain in the 18th century: The case of the 'decima' - Nadia Fernández de Pinedo Echevarria
6 Institutional framework, local politics and urban taxation in Aragon during the 17th century - José Antonio Mateos Royo
7 Urban fiscality and economic development in a centralized Monarchy: France in the 17th and 18th centuries - Guy Saupin
8 The Habsburg fiscal system: the case of the Austrian Hereditary Lands - Andrea Pühringer
9 Urban taxation and debt in Early Modern Germany - Bernd Fuhrmann
10 The Dutch financial syste: Citizens investing in urban debt, 1500-1700 - Manon van der Heijden and Martijn van der Burg
11 The making of the urban fiscal system of Antwerp until 1800: Excises, annuities and debt management - Michael Limberger
