Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/94249 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
1999
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 1999-04
Publisher: 
Rutgers University, Department of Economics, New Brunswick, NJ
Abstract: 
While a great power in the eighteenth century, France fell behind Britain's lead in modernizing her macroeconomic institutions. This paper examines the development of French macroeconomic institutions from the middle ages to the eighteenth century in a comparative framework. Theories of optimal macroeconomic policy and sovereign debt identify the key weaknesses of French institutions that imposed inferior policy choices on the government. Radical reform was blocked by a political economy created by medieval and early modern France. The difficulty experienced by the government in mobilizing resources to fight wars was a key factor contributing to the loss of France's overseas empire in the eighteenth century.
Subjects: 
France
History
Macroeconomic policy
JEL: 
E63
N13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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