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The Long-Term Effects of Extractive Institutions: Evidence from Trade Policies in Colonial French Africa
- Source :
- Dipòsit Digital de la UB, Universidad de Barcelona, Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya, instname
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Informa UK Limited, 2018.
-
Abstract
- Despite having convincingly linked colonial extractive institutions to African current poverty, the literature remains unclear about which exact institutions are to blame. To address this research question, in this paper I identify trade policies as one of the main components of colonial extraction by showing their long-term effects on African economic growth. By using the gap between prices paid to African producers in the French colonies and competitive prices as a measure of rent extraction via trade monopsonies, I find a negative correlation between such price gaps and current development. This correlation is not driven by differences in geographic characteristics or national institutions. Moreover, it cannot be explained by the selection of initially poorer places into higher colonial extraction. The evidence suggests that trade monopsonies affected subsequent growth by reducing development in rural areas and that these effects persisted for a long time after independence.
- Subjects :
- Colonization
Economics and Econometrics
History
Economic development
Poverty
Institucions financeres
media_common.quotation_subject
05 social sciences
Commerce
Àfrica
Financial institutions
Development
Colonialism
Colonització
Term (time)
Blame
Desenvolupament econòmic
Political science
Africa
0502 economics and business
Development economics
Comerç
050207 economics
050205 econometrics
media_common
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 20780397 and 20780389
- Volume :
- 33
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Economic History of Developing Regions
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....735cf85d0618b8036c28a3f768b8696a