Paths Toward The Modern Fiscal State: England, Japan, And China
by Wenkai He /
2013 / English / PDF
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The rise of modern public finance revolutionized political
economy. As governments learned to invest tax revenue in the
long-term financial resources of the market, they vastly
increased their administrative power and gained the ability to
use fiscal, monetary, and financial policy to manage their
economies. But why did the modern fiscal state emerge in some
places and not in others? In approaching this question, Wenkai He
compares the paths of three different nations―England, Japan, and
China―to discover why some governments developed the tools and
institutions of modern public finance, while others, facing
similar circumstances, failed to do so.
The rise of modern public finance revolutionized political
economy. As governments learned to invest tax revenue in the
long-term financial resources of the market, they vastly
increased their administrative power and gained the ability to
use fiscal, monetary, and financial policy to manage their
economies. But why did the modern fiscal state emerge in some
places and not in others? In approaching this question, Wenkai He
compares the paths of three different nations―England, Japan, and
China―to discover why some governments developed the tools and
institutions of modern public finance, while others, facing
similar circumstances, failed to do so.
Focusing on three key periods of institutional development―the
decades after the English Civil Wars, the Meiji Restoration, and
the Taiping Rebellion―He demonstrates how each event precipitated
a collapse of the existing institutions of public finance. Facing
urgent calls for revenue, each government searched for new ways
to make up the shortfall. These experiments took varied forms,
from new methods of taxation to new credit arrangements. Yet,
while England and Japan learned from their successes and failures
how to deploy the tools of modern public finance and equipped
themselves to become world powers, China did not. He’s
comparative historical analysis isolates the nature of the credit
crisis confronting each state as the crucial factor in
determining its specific trajectory. This perceptive and
persuasive explanation for China’s failure at a critical moment
in its history illuminates one of the most important but least
understood transformations of the modern world.
Focusing on three key periods of institutional development―the
decades after the English Civil Wars, the Meiji Restoration, and
the Taiping Rebellion―He demonstrates how each event precipitated
a collapse of the existing institutions of public finance. Facing
urgent calls for revenue, each government searched for new ways
to make up the shortfall. These experiments took varied forms,
from new methods of taxation to new credit arrangements. Yet,
while England and Japan learned from their successes and failures
how to deploy the tools of modern public finance and equipped
themselves to become world powers, China did not. He’s
comparative historical analysis isolates the nature of the credit
crisis confronting each state as the crucial factor in
determining its specific trajectory. This perceptive and
persuasive explanation for China’s failure at a critical moment
in its history illuminates one of the most important but least
understood transformations of the modern world.