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The state does not live by warfare alone : War and revenue in the long nineteenth century

Goenaga, Agustín LU ; Sabaté, Oriol and Teorell, Jan LU orcid (2023) In Review of International Organizations 18. p.393-418
Abstract

Previous research shows that wars contributed to the expansion of state revenues in the Early Modern period and in the twentieth century. There are, however, few cross-national studies on the long nineteenth century. Using new unbalanced panel data on wars and public revenues from 1816 to 1913 for 27 American and European countries, this article provides new evidence that military conflicts very rarely triggered lasting increases in public revenues during those years. We argue that the uneven diffusion of military innovations reduced the probability that international wars would be sufficiently intense to push state actors to seek additional resources. Moreover, the distinction between international and civil wars was blurred by the... (More)

Previous research shows that wars contributed to the expansion of state revenues in the Early Modern period and in the twentieth century. There are, however, few cross-national studies on the long nineteenth century. Using new unbalanced panel data on wars and public revenues from 1816 to 1913 for 27 American and European countries, this article provides new evidence that military conflicts very rarely triggered lasting increases in public revenues during those years. We argue that the uneven diffusion of military innovations reduced the probability that international wars would be sufficiently intense to push state actors to seek additional resources. Moreover, the distinction between international and civil wars was blurred by the opportunities for non-state actors to mobilize military forces comparable to those of the state. Therefore, only very intense international and civil wars had a lasting impact on state revenues, but such conflicts were extremely rare, both in Europe and the Americas.

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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
America, Europe, Fiscal capacity, Nineteenth century, Public revenues, Taxation, War
in
Review of International Organizations
volume
18
pages
393 - 418
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:85138578933
ISSN
1559-7431
DOI
10.1007/s11558-022-09477-x
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
559a0c4e-3641-462f-a3a7-ad30cb47e873
date added to LUP
2022-12-20 12:19:11
date last changed
2023-03-31 14:20:46
@article{559a0c4e-3641-462f-a3a7-ad30cb47e873,
  abstract     = {{<p>Previous research shows that wars contributed to the expansion of state revenues in the Early Modern period and in the twentieth century. There are, however, few cross-national studies on the long nineteenth century. Using new unbalanced panel data on wars and public revenues from 1816 to 1913 for 27 American and European countries, this article provides new evidence that military conflicts very rarely triggered lasting increases in public revenues during those years. We argue that the uneven diffusion of military innovations reduced the probability that international wars would be sufficiently intense to push state actors to seek additional resources. Moreover, the distinction between international and civil wars was blurred by the opportunities for non-state actors to mobilize military forces comparable to those of the state. Therefore, only very intense international and civil wars had a lasting impact on state revenues, but such conflicts were extremely rare, both in Europe and the Americas.</p>}},
  author       = {{Goenaga, Agustín and Sabaté, Oriol and Teorell, Jan}},
  issn         = {{1559-7431}},
  keywords     = {{America; Europe; Fiscal capacity; Nineteenth century; Public revenues; Taxation; War}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{393--418}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Review of International Organizations}},
  title        = {{The state does not live by warfare alone : War and revenue in the long nineteenth century}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11558-022-09477-x}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s11558-022-09477-x}},
  volume       = {{18}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}