The Center for Middle Eastern Studies

presents a lecture

by

Haggay Etkes

Legalizing Extortion: An Economic Analysis of State Regulated
'Protection Payments' Made to Tribes in Ottoman Gaza (1519-1582)

THE CENTER FOR MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES
38 Kirkland Street, Room 208

An abstract of his thesis:
 
Bribing violent groups is a common phenomenon in contemporary and
historical economies. Usually it is difficult to study this phenomenon
empirically because it is considered illegal and thus it is hidden. The
official state policy of regulating payments villages made to armed
tribes in sixteenth century Gaza provides a rare opportunity to study
this institution and its impact on economic growth and taxation.
Moreover, the process of consolidation and corrosion of the Ottoman
authority allows to examine how back and forth shifts in the balanced of
power between a state and armed groups influenced production and
taxation. The paper characterizes three alternative strategies for
villages exposed to raids: (i) bribing the armed tribe; (ii) paying high
taxes to induce the state to protect the village; (iii) retrenching
(cutting back) production to render a potential raid unprofitable. As
the state consolidated its rule, the non-bribing villages (strategies ii
& iii) increased production and their tax rates were reduced. Hence, the
Ottoman rule facilitated economic growth mainly of non-bribing villages.
This economic institution collapsed after local tribes had acquired
firearms and rebelled in the 1570s. Following the revolt the tax paid by
non-bribing villages dropped, while those paid by bribing villages
stagnated. Thus, just as the consolidation of Ottoman authority fostered
the growth of the non-bribing villages, its corrosion adversely affected
the non-bribing villages.

or if should want to see a longer version please go to:
http://pluto.huji.ac.il/~haggay/Ottoman_Gaza/Legalising_Extortion.pdf


Mr. Etkes is a PhD candidate at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who
has been working on the Ottoman defters for 16th century Gaza.