Economics 2150A/B Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Land Grabbing, Indirect Rule, Capital Accumulation

• School: Western University
• Department: Economics
• Course: Economics 2150A/B
• Professor: Colin Denniston

Document Summary

Taxes and military cost used to cover the costs of running the empire: military spending and debt service = 64% of budget (davis and huttenback 1986, taxes per capita 2. 5 higher in uk compared to foreign states. British elite and white settlers in dominions and colonies mainly benefited from empire. Paid by taxpayers: british imperialism = mechanism to create an income transfer from the tax paying middle class to the elites -> distributional effect of colonialism. If balance of trade <0 then capital accumulation < 0 therefore colonies must have received subsidies. Impact of colonisation on past and present economic development. Colonisation is exogenous colonists drawing arbitrary borders, not knowing the local context. Heldring and robinson 2012 hard to deal/ compare/ think about counterfactual. Land grabbing: mainly in settler colonies white settlers expropriated natives from the best lands. Coerced labour: done in africa at different degrees by colonising powers. Improvement in living conditions doesn"t mean impact of colonisation was positive.