Las cuentas del federalismo colombiano

Tell me the fiscal history and I will tell you the history of the State. In this volume of quantitative and thoroughly argued research - economic history at its finest - the authors provide us with a "total history" of the national state in Colombia and its nine federative entities during the federal liberal period between 1880 and 1886.

It is a very important book because detailed work had never been done on the public finances of the federal states and, above all, the annual taxes by tax category of each state. I am surprised by the variety of taxes and the differences in the use of direct taxation.

Between 1856 and 1886, Colombia experimented, after the confusing trials of Independence, with a federal political organization. This work analyzes the economic and especially fiscal effects of federalism, which had surprising results: they were years of economic expansion and the affirmation and expansion of citizenship, despite the political and social weaknesses and limitations. This book, based on a careful analysis by a large team of authors, allows us to see the impact of federalism region by region, in a country whose diversity was consolidated during these years.