From privatized to government‐administered tax collection: tax farming in eighteenth‐century France1
研究了18世纪法国从私人包税制转向政府直接征税的缓慢过程，从委托代理角度解释为何法国晚于英国，包税人承担风险导致王室收入较低。
The establishment of a government bureaucracy to collect taxes is regarded as one of the essential features of a modern economy. While Britain is considered a pioneer, France has been treated as a laggard because of continued reliance on tax farming. Focusing on the largest tax farm, France's late transition from private to government tax collection is explained in a principal‐agent context by the difficulties of monitoring employees and borrowing at low cost in the capital market. Tax farmers continued to earn high returns, absorbing the risk of fluctuating collections, leaving the Crown with lower revenue.