The Organization of Government in Pre-industrial Europe*

Pre-industrial Europe saw a relatively rapid evolution of systems of government. Feudalism gave way to medieval constitutional government and this gave way in turn either to the imperial state or to associational government. This rapid evolution was driven by two interrelated processes—one of economic growth and development, the other of struggle and conflict among governments. Our purpose here is to understand how these processes molded the way government was organized. Differences across systems of government in the organization of government accounted for much of the difference in the economic environment they created and consequently in their subsequent economic development. JEL Categories: N430, H110, H830, H770 *This paper is a draft chapter of The Origins of Western Economic Success: Commerce, Finance, and Government in Pre-Industrial Europe. Other draft chapters may be downloaded from http://www.dartmouth.edu/~mkohn/