The Privilege of Liberty: Economic Development in Early-Modern France
FAIN: FT-56501-09
Jeff Horn
Manhattan College (Bronx, NY 10471-4004)
This project explores the way that privilege, the provision of certain, varying sets of rights, powers and exemptions to some individuals, groups, occupations, cities, and provinces, while denying them to others was used by the French state for the purposes of economic development. The financial and political restrictions hemming in the French state left it with relatively few means of stimulating the economy. The paradox at the heart of this project is that, the Bourbon government, constructed atop an edifice of privilege, commonly resorted to using exemption from the restrictions and regulations that typified the old regime as its most important deployment of privilege as a tool of economic development. This "privilege of liberty" was vital to facilitating industrial growth and technological change. The centerpiece of this project is the uncounted -- much less unstudied -- privileged enclaves within and surrounding France's cities.