The paper re‐examines the role of the state in economic change in colonial India (1757–1947), by paying attention to fiscal capacity. This capacity was larger than that of the precolonial states, and based on different foundations, such as centralisation of finance and securitisation of public debt. Nevertheless, the effort to raise finance hit a barrier, which had owed to the separation of debt from revenue operations. Did the barrier matter? By keeping markets open, the colonial state served private enterprise, but its failure to sustain growth in fiscal capacity compromised public investment in infrastructure and social development.

中文翻译：

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殖民地印度的国家能力和经济史

本文通过关注财政能力，重新审视了国家在殖民地印度（1757-1947 年）经济变革中的作用。这种能力比前殖民国家更大，并且基于不同的基础，例如金融中心化和公共债务证券化。然而，筹集资金的努力遇到了障碍，这是由于将债务与收入业务分开。屏障重要吗？通过保持市场开放，殖民地国家为私营企业服务，但它未能维持财政能力的增长，损害了对基础设施和社会发展的公共投资。