In pre-industrial Europe, many of the functions performed today by large corporations and governments were performed by merchant associations of various types - merchant guilds, regulated companies, merchant-controlled cities, and merchant colonies. Merchant association provided their members...

Government finance in pre-industrial Europe was shaped by two forces - continuing economic development and incessant warfare. Continuing economic development increased potential revenue and altered the ways in which it could be mobilized. Incessant warfare exerted constant, often intense,...