ABSTRACT
When Akbar the Great died in 1605 the value of the treasuries in Mughal India was approximately 56 million ducats. At the time of Philip II’s death, only a few years earlier in 1598, the debt of the Spanish Empire was some 85 million ducats. The difference between east and west is not only striking but also highly relevant in the study of world empires, for despite rising national deficits several European states expanded in the period from 1500 to 1850, a growth made possible by fiscal innovations and changing financial policies.
