During the Komnenean dynasty and especially during the years of Manuel, the concessions of state land from the emperors to their subjects increased. This happened within the framework of more general concessions and privileges granted to citizens, which was characteristic of the policies the Komnenoi followed in the sector of economics. The concession of land took place by means of either older institutions that were more frequently applied in this period, or those that appeared for the first time, namely: the charistike dorea (gift of grace) and the pronoia.
The charistike dorea consisted of a "conditional" concession of several ecclesiastic establishments along with their economic means, to ecclesiastic or secular people. These establishments were monasteries, charitable establishments and other property belonging to the Patriarchate, the Emperor or the state, being separate sekreta. Initial intention of this concession was to improve the way monasteries were run along with improving their economic situation. However, these concessions quickly started to take on a discriminative character, being granted to those who the emperors and partriarchs favoured, and ceased to be to the advantage of the establishments themselves. The new owners (the charistekarioi) misappropriated the institutions and made profits from the revenues derived from the administration of the monasterial economy while abandoning the institutions themselves to their fate.
The pronoia consisted of the concession of the state land taxes, and the concession of tied farmers - along with their obligations to several people - as recompense for the provision of services to the state. The beneficiary (the pronoiarios) possessed all economic and tax rights that had formerly belonged to the state as regards the estate granted and its associated farmers. The first pronoia we know dates from 1118-9, therefore the introduction of the institution was most likely undertaken by Alexios I (1081-1118). The institution became general under Manuel Komnenos, who used it to replace military salaries. The basic reason for its application was the lack of money in the state coffers so far as meeting military expenses was concerned. In this way, possession of state property passed to civilians and the state lost even more revenues to the economic advantage of individual subjects, who were usually favoured aristocrats.