Entrepreneurs, Institutions and Government Intervention in Europe [13th - 20th Centuries]

The outlook on the effects of state formation and government intervention in the economy is diverse. This book brings together sixteen chapters written by distinguished scholars on diverse aspects and forms of state formation and government intervention in honour of Professor Erik Aerts (University of Leuven). In his research on the intervention of the central government in the economy of the Habsburg Netherlands (1555-1795), he presented a novel approach to state intervention as collaboration between governments at different levels, administrators and entrepreneurs. Twenty authors explore this theme further in chapters dealing with institutions and public authorities, regulation and subsidizing, the involvement of entrepreneurs, officials and various levels of governance in the process of shaping economic intervention, and with the relationship between official religious (in)tolerance and economic performance.