Concessions – instrument for valuation of the state’s domes in Bessarabia (1812-1863)

In this article we analyze the particularities of the capitalization of state domains in Bessarabia through the concession of potential sources of income to private entrepreneurs. Studying the archival documentary sources allowed us to conclude that the concessions represented for the Russian government the main tool for the valorization of its domains in Bessarabia from its annexation to the empire in 1812 and until the beginning of the 1860s. The active involvement of entrepreneurs in the economic organization of the province – by expanding the system of concessions, freed the Russian state from the burden of paying numerous new officials and guaranteed the receipt of expected revenues without any additional institutional expenses. The negative impact of concessions was their gradual monopolization by entrepreneurs from outside the province. As a result, entrepreneurs from Bessarabia were deprived of an important source of primary capital accumulation, while the province – of serious investments from the concessionaires.