Bourbon Reforms, State Capacity, and Revolution in the Spanish Empire

Giorgio Chiovelli, Leopoldo Fergusson, Luis R. Martínez, Juan David Torres and Felipe Valencia Caicedo
Additional contact information
Luis R. Martínez: University of Chicago
Juan David Torres: Universidad de los Andes
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Luis Roberto Martinez ()

No 21106, Documentos CEDE from Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE

Abstract: We study state modernization, extractive institutions, and political upheaval in the colonial world. We explore the intendancy system: a new corps of governors overseeing a new set of administrative units introduced throughout Spain’s American empire in the 1780s. We show that the reform led to improvements in state capacity along three dimensions: (i) state presence in peripheral areas; (ii) fiscal revenue; (iii) production of cartographic information. The reform also led to fewer Indigenous rebellions but increased anti-Spanish sentiment among local elites – who saw their economic privileges curtailed – and bolstered Latin America’s independence movement in the early 19th century.

Keywords: State Capacity; Taxation; Bureaucracy; Conflict; Elites; Colonialism; Independence; Latin America (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D73 D74 H71 N46 P48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 123 pages
Date: 2024-04-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Bourbon Reforms, State Capacity, and Revolution in the Spanish Empire (2025)
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