This volume focuses on the political economy of early state societies and the ways in which the income of the central government of such systems was collected a

In recent years, scholars in a number of disciplines have focused their attention on understanding the early American economy. This text enters the resurgent di

“One of the most profound and illuminating studies of this century to have been published in recent decades.”—John Gray, New York Times Book Review Hailed

"Contesting the assumption that early American economists were committed to Adam Smith's ideas of free trade and small government, this book provides a comprehe

"Timothy Earle has set out to offer the most comprehensive view now available of the economic foundations of early societies, and it may well be that he has suc