The financial condition of Tosa domain worsened steadily over most of the eighteenth century. Because seventeenth-century finances were so dependent on lumber income, the disappearing stands of forest devastated finances as directly as they harmed the Tosa environment and economy. Furthermore, because overpopulation problems contributed to crop losses and difficulties with tax payment, they also troubled financial officials. Bakufu demands for labor duty in the eighteenth century became standardized as a monetary contribution for almost all domains, Tosa included, but the sudden calls for money inevitably sent domain finances reeling. Furthermore, normal Edo expenditures continued to grow: a by-product of the culture of conspicuous consumption in which the lords and their families lived. When lumber was plentiful in the seventeenth century, the lords of Tosa were very well off and could afford to be insouciant.