Desertion Hindered the State Weapons of the Weak in Early Modern Japan

• In Event: Historical Political Economy of East Asia

Brief Overview

My paper explores how peasant mobility constrained state power. Using geocoded data of peasant revolts across 230 domains in Tokugawa Japan, I show desertion threats led to lower tax rates and evidence of tax competition among neighboring rulers.

Author

• Shusuke Ioku, University of Rochester