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Scholarly discussions on economic development in history,
specifically those linked to industrialization or modern economic
growth, have paid great attention to the formation and development
of the market economy as a set of institutions able to augment
people’s welfare. The role of specific nonmarket practices
for promoting the economic development and welfare has been a
distinct concern, typically involving discussion of the
state’s economic policies. How have societies tackled those
issues that the market did not? To what extent did those solutions
reflect the structure of an economy?
Public Goods Provision in the Early Modern Economy explores
these questions by investigating efforts made for the provision of
"public goods" in early modern economies from the perspective of
Japanese socioeconomic history during Tokugawa era
(1603–1868), and by comparing those cases with others from
Europe and China’s economic history. The contributors
focus on three areas of inquiry—early modern era welfare
policies for the poor, infrastructure, and forest
management—to provide both a unique perspective on Japanese
public finance at local levels and a vantage point outside of
Europe to encourage a more global view of early modern political
economies that shaped subsequent modern
transformations.