Introduction; 1. Studying fiscal regimes Andrew Monson and Walter Scheidel; Part I. Diversity and Commonalities in Early Extraction Regimes: 2. The Inka empire Terence N. D'Altroy; 3. The Aztec empire Michael E. Smith; 4. The Ancient Near East and Egypt Michael Jursa and Juan Carlos Morena García; Part II. Determinants of Intensification and Abatement: 5. Hellenistic empires Andrew Monson; 6. The Roman republic James Tan; 7. The early Roman monarchy Walter Scheidel; 8. The later Roman empire Gilles Bransbourg; 9. Early imperial China, from Qin/Han through Tang Mark E. Lewis; 10. Imperial China under the Song and late Qing Kent Gang Deng; Part III. Divergent Trends among Established Regimes: 11. Late Rome, Byzantium and early medieval western Europe John Haldon; 12. The Middle East in Islamic late antiquity Hugh Kennedy; 13. The Ottoman empire Metin M. Cögel; 14. Early modern Japan Philip C. Brown; Part IV. Fragmented Political Ecologies and Institutional Innovation: 15. The Greek polis and koinon Emily Mackil; 16. Classical Athens Josiah Ober; 17. Why did public debt originate in Europe? David Stasavage; Part V. Comparative Perspectives and New Frontiers: 18. Tributary empires and the New Fiscal Sociology: some comparative reflections Peter F. Bang; 19. Interpreting the comparative history of fiscal regimes Edgar Kiser and Margaret Levi.