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A stakeholder empire: the political economy of Spanish imperial rule in America

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  • Grafe, Regina
  • Irigoin, Alejandra

Abstract

This paper revises the traditional view of Spain as a predatory colonial state that extracted revenue from natural resources and populations in the Americas while offering little in return. Using 18th century Spanish American treasury accounts we show that local elites not only exerted important control over revenue collection as argued by (Irigoin/Grafe 2006) but also over expenditure allocation. Mirroring Elliot’s characterization of the English empire as a ‘stakeholder empire’ we contend that the Spanish colonial state developed into a stakeholder model, in which local interests were deeply invested in the survival and expansion of empire. The means of co-optation were intra-colonial transfers, as well as credit relations between the state and colonial individuals and corporations, which guaranteed that much of colonial revenue was immediately fed back into the local economy, while minimizing enforcements costs. By allowing stakeholder control of both revenue and expenditure Spain managed to avoid the problems faced by France where royal control of expenditure clashed with at least partial elite control of revenue raising (Velde/Weir 1992, Hoffman/Rosenthal 1997).

Suggested Citation

  • Grafe, Regina & Irigoin, Alejandra, 2008. "A stakeholder empire: the political economy of Spanish imperial rule in America," Economic History Working Papers 22306, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:wpaper:22306
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    Cited by:

    1. Daniel Sánchez-Piñol Yulee, 2024. "Checkmate: What was a King's worth in nineteenth-century Latin America?," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 35(2), pages 174-199, June.
    2. Irigoin, Alejandra, 2016. "Representation Without Taxation, Taxation Without Consent: The Legacy Of Spanish Colonialism In America," Revista de Historia Económica / Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 34(2), pages 169-208, September.
    3. Safya Morshed, 2024. "State of forgiveness: Cooperation, conciliation, and state formation in Mughal South Asia (1556–1707)," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 77(1), pages 60-89, February.
    4. Serrano Hernández, Sergio Tonatiuh, 2023. "Debt policy in Spanish America during the seventeenth century," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    5. Irigoin, A, 2012. "Bounded Leviathan: or why North & Weingast are only right on the right half," MPRA Paper 39722, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Leonor Freire Costa, & M. Manuela Rocha, & Paulo Brito, 2014. "Money Supply and the Credit Market in Early Modern Economies: The Case of Eighteenth-Century Lisbon," Working Papers GHES - Office of Economic and Social History 2014/52, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, GHES - Social and Economic History Research Unit, Universidade de Lisboa.
    7. Irarrázaval, Andrés, 2020. "The fiscal origins of comparative inequality levels: an empirical and historical investigation," Economic History Working Papers 107491, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    8. Leonor Freire Costa & Susana Münch Miranda, 2023. "Reputational recovery under political instability: Public debt in Portugal, 1641–83," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(3), pages 871-891, August.
    9. Irigoin, Alejandra & Grafe, Regina, 2012. "Bounded Leviathan: or why North and Weingast are only right on the right half," Economic History Working Papers 44492, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    10. Arteaga, Fernando & Desierto, Desiree & Koyama, Mark, 2024. "Shipwrecked by rents," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    11. Leonor Freire Costa & Paulo Brito, 2018. "Why did people pay taxes? Fiscal innovation in Portugal and state making in times of political struggle (1500-1680)," Working Papers GHES - Office of Economic and Social History 2018/59, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, GHES - Social and Economic History Research Unit, Universidade de Lisboa.
    12. Leandro Prados de la Escosura & Carlos Santiago-Caballero, 2018. "The Napoleonic Wars: A Watershed in Spanish History?," Working Papers 0130, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    13. Kendrick, Neil, 2013. "Educação para todos –“free to those who can afford it”: human capital and inequality persistence in 21st c Brazil," Economic History Working Papers 50970, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    14. Leonor Freire Costa & Maria Manuela Rocha & Paulo B. Brito, 2018. "The alchemy of gold: interest rates, money stock, and credit in eighteenth‐century Lisbon," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 71(4), pages 1147-1172, November.
    15. António Henriques & Nuno Palma, 2023. "Comparative European Institutions and the Little Divergence, 1385–1800," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 259-294, June.
    16. Irigoin, Alejandra, 2018. "Global silver: Bullion or Specie? Supply and demand in the making of the early modern global economy," MPRA Paper 88859, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Irarrázaval, Andrés, 2020. "The fiscal origins of comparative inequality levels: an empirical and historical investigation," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 107491, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Restrepo-Estrada, Maria Isabel, 2016. "The roots of regional trade in the Americas 1870 to 1950," IFCS - Working Papers in Economic History.WH 23304, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto Figuerola.
    19. Roy, Tirthankar, 2019. "State capacity and the economic history of colonial India," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 100723, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    20. Javier L. Arnaut, 2017. "Was Colonialism Fiscally Sustainable? An Empirical Examination of the Colonial Finances of Spanish America," Documentos de Trabajo (DT-AEHE) 1703, Asociación Española de Historia Económica.
    21. Víctor M. Gómez‐Blanco, 2024. "A safe asset in early modern Castile, 1543–1714," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 77(1), pages 212-243, February.
    22. repec:cte:whrepe:26737 is not listed on IDEAS

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N0 - Economic History - - General
    • O52 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Europe
    • H83 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - Public Administration
    • O51 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - U.S.; Canada

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