Tax collection in the Roman Empire : a new institutional economics approach
Gutiérrez, Oscar (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Empresa)
Martínez-Esteller, Marco (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Empresa)

Date:	2021
Abstract:	This paper reviews the Roman tax collection system since the Late Republic to the Principality, focusing on the transition from the tax-farming system to a more centralized, census-based administration. We attempt to justify this transition according to New Institutional Economic theories (Transaction Cost Economics and Property Rights Theory). The paper argues that, during the Republic, the auction-based system of tax farming ended up giving place to opportunistic behaviors and abusing practices due to information asymmetries and contract incompleteness, enhanced by the collusion of tax farmers and governors. The Principality improved the efficiency of the tax collection system through the introduction of a bureaucratic and census-based administration, which allowed imperial employees to monitor the tax-farming activities.
Note:	Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UAB
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Roman Republic ; Principality ; Tax-farmers ; New institutional economics ; Moral hazard ; Incomplete contracts
Published in:	Constitutional Political Economy, Vol. 33 (2022) , p.378-401, ISSN 1572-9966

DOI: 10.1007/s10602-021-09355-5

24 p, 660.6 KB

The record appears in these collections:
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles