THE PUBLIC CHOICE MONOPOLY: THE PRIVILEGE FROM LA MANUFACTURE ROYALE ICE-CREAMS AND ITS STATE CONTROL UNDER THE OLD REGIME

Abstract

Robert Ekelund and Robert Tollison proposed in 1981 an analysis economics of mercantilism which has been much criticized because of its abstraction. The study of the privilege of the Manufacture royale des ice cream and its state control between 1665 and the Revolution shows the interest of this interpretation. It allows in particular to explain why temporary privileges were constantly renewed under the Ancien Régime