Contingent sovereign debt can create important welfare gains. Nonetheless, there is almost no issuance today. Using hand-collected archival data, we examine the first known case of large-scale use of state-contingent sovereign debt in history. Philip II of Spain entered into hundreds of...

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- I History -- 1 The Impact of Administrative Power on Political and Economic Developments: Toward a Political Economy of Implementation -- 2 The Institutional Origins of the Industrial Revolution -- 3 Institutions and the Resource Curse in...

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Prologue -- Chapter 1. Lending to the Sound of Cannon -- Chapter 2. Philip'S Empire -- Chapter 3. Taxes, Debts, and Institutions -- Chapter 4. The Sustainable Debts of Philip Ii -- Chapter 5. Lending to the Borrower from Hell -- Chapter 6. Serial...

Contingent sovereign debt can create important welfare gains. Nonetheless, there is almost no issuance today. Using hand-collected archival data, we examine the first known case of large-scale use of state-contingent sovereign debt in history. Philip II of Spain entered into hundreds of...