The Political Economy of Ottoman Public Debt

In the midst of political decline and burgeoning financial problems in the late nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire became embroiled in a borrowing frenzy, which eventually resulted in the financial collapse of the empire. Under political pressure and with the growing need for external funds, the Ottoman court compromised its fiscal sovereignty by ceding the most liquid revenue sources to a financial administration controlled by European creditors. In this book, Murat Birdal sheds light on the handling of the external debt crisis, one of the most controversial periods of Ottoman economic history. Based on extensive archival research foreign archives, he explores the pivotal role of the Ottoman Public Debt Administration (OPDA) in the peripheralization of the Ottoman economy. This book will be invaluable to scholars of Ottoman, Middle East and economic history.

Auteur

Murat Birdal is Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at Istanbul University. He received his PhD from University of Southern California in 2006.

Contenu

Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1. Theoretical Background
1.2. The Ottoman Public Debt Administration (OPDA)
1.3. Peripheralization of the Ottoman Empire in the Nineteenth Century and the Role of the Ottoman Public Debt Administration
1.4. Organization of the Dissertation

Chapter 2: Ottoman Borrowing in the Pre-OPDA Period: The Path to the Decree of Muharrem
2.1. Crisis of the Ottoman Finance and Reform Attempts
2.2. Domestic Borrowing and the Financial Monopoly of the Galata Bankers
2.3. External Borrowing and the Institutional Reforms to Improve the Credit of the Empire:
1854-1875
2.4. Ottoman Borrowing During the Default Period: 1875-1881
2.5. Ottoman Debt Settlement and the Decree of Muharrem

Chapter 3: Coordination, Commitment and Enforcement: Making Sense of the Ottoman Public Debt Administration
3.1. Debtor's Dilemma and Mechanisms for Compliance
3.2. Enforcement Mechanisms for Sovereign Compliance
3.3. Analytical Framework: Debtor's Dilemma Reconsidered
3.4. Implications of the Model
3.5. Enforcement of Debt Contracts Before the OPDA: Understanding the Role of the CFB
3.6. Enforcement of Debt Contracts After the OPDA
3.7. Ottoman Foreign Borrowing in the OPDA Era
3.8. Foreign Direct Investment after the Decree of Muharrem
3.9. The OPDA's Role in Foreign Investment in the Ottoman Empire

Chapter 4: Organizational Structure of the OPDA and the Administration of the Indirect Revenues
4.1. Organizational Structure of the OPDA
4.2. Administration of the Five Indirect Contributions under the OPDA
4.3. An Assessment of the OPDA's Economic Performance

Chapter 5: Tobacco Sector and the Régie Company
5.1. History of Tobacco in the Ottoman Empire
5.2. Administration of the Tobacco Revenues Before the Régie System
5.3. Establishment of the Régie Company
5.4. Organization of the Régie System
5.5. Economic Performance of the Régie Company
5.6. An Assessment of the Régie System

Chapter 6: The Role of the OPDA in the Transformation of the Ottoman Economy
6.1. Summary
6.2. The OPDA's Role in Risk Reduction
6.3. The Dual Role of the OPDA
6.4. Absence of Reforms in the Ottoman Empire
6.5. Foreign Archives and the OPDA as Sources of Historical Information
6.6. Further Research