The Efficacy of Spain’s Fiscal-Military State

Rafael Torres Sánchez
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Rafael Torres Sánchez: Universidad de Navarra

Chapter 6 in Constructing a Fiscal-Military State in Eighteenth-Century Spain, 2015, pp 189-212 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract From the second half of the seventeenth century many changes were brought in and many feats pulled off in the long process of reforming the Spanish state. The most notable were the establishment of its unchallengeable authority and entitlement to control resources, and the modification of the taxation and expenditure policy (something the Habsburgs had never managed to do). The question now is whether these changes spelled efficacy, that is, whether the fiscal-military state was efficient in its priority and almost sole objective of mobilising the necessary wherewithal for ensuring security and stability: the two assets of most interest to any society. Assessing the efficiency of resource mobilisation is tricky. It is very difficult to measure and even more complicated to make any comparisons with other states, but this is essential if we are to going to have any hope of refuting the hackneyed theories that have always placed more emphasis on coercion than efficiency.

Keywords: Eighteenth Century; Public Debt; Public Spending; Capital Expenditure; Administration Cost (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:psitcp:978-1-137-47866-5_6

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DOI: 10.1057/9781137478665_6

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