Colonialism on the Cheap: The French Empire 1830-1962
Denis Cogneau
(1, 2, 3, 4)
,
Yannick Dupraz
(5, 4, 2)
,
Elise Huillery
(2, 5, 4)
,
Sandrine Mesplé-Somps
(2, 5, 4)
Denis Cogneau
- Fonction : Auteur
- PersonId : 743084
- IdHAL : denis-cogneau
- ORCID : 0000-0002-4355-2150
- IdRef : 030226244
Yannick Dupraz
- Fonction : Auteur
- PersonId : 1388541
Elise Huillery
- Fonction : Auteur
- PersonId : 1388542
Sandrine Mesplé-Somps
- Fonction : Auteur
- PersonId : 1116276
Résumé
How much did France pay for its colonial empire? Did colonies benefit from large transfers from French taxpayers and private investors, or were they on the contrary drained of their capital? So far, Jacques Marseille (1984) was the only attempt to investigate these questions, by deducting from the structural trade deficit of the French colonies that they were a heavy financial burden for France.
We collect novel budgetary and loan data from archives and compute public monetary flows between France and the colonies between 1833 and 1962. We also provide figures of colonial private investment through the Paris Stock Exchange. Public expenditure spent by France on the empire only represented
1.3% of its GDP, of which four fifths were in the military. The persistent trade balance deficits of French colonies did not correspond to large public or private capital transfers, as they were in fact counterbalanced by military expenditure from the Metropole. Once accounting for this, the colonial drain of the French empire is comparable to British India.
Domaines
Economies et financesFormat du dépôt | Fichier |
---|---|
Type de dépôt | Pré-publication, Document de travail (working paper) |
Titre |
en
Colonialism on the Cheap: The French Empire 1830-1962
|
Résumé |
en
How much did France pay for its colonial empire? Did colonies benefit from large transfers from French taxpayers and private investors, or were they on the contrary drained of their capital? So far, Jacques Marseille (1984) was the only attempt to investigate these questions, by deducting from the structural trade deficit of the French colonies that they were a heavy financial burden for France.
We collect novel budgetary and loan data from archives and compute public monetary flows between France and the colonies between 1833 and 1962. We also provide figures of colonial private investment through the Paris Stock Exchange. Public expenditure spent by France on the empire only represented
1.3% of its GDP, of which four fifths were in the military. The persistent trade balance deficits of French colonies did not correspond to large public or private capital transfers, as they were in fact counterbalanced by military expenditure from the Metropole. Once accounting for this, the colonial drain of the French empire is comparable to British India.
|
Auteur(s) |
Denis Cogneau
1, 2, 3, 4
, Yannick Dupraz
5, 4, 2
, Elise Huillery
2, 5, 4
, Sandrine Mesplé-Somps
2, 5, 4
1
PSE -
Paris School of Economics
( 301309 )
- 48 boulevard Jourdan 75014 Paris
- France
2
IRD -
Institut de recherche pour le Développement
( 1149814 )
- France
3
PJSE -
Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques
( 578027 )
- 48 boulevard Jourdan 75014 Paris
- France
4
DIAL -
Développement, institutions et analyses de long terme
( 12772 )
- DIAL - 4 rue d'Enghien - 75010 Paris
- France
5
LEDa -
Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine
( 559342 )
- Place du Maréchal de Lattre de Tassigny - 75775 PARIS Cedex 16
- France
|
Langue du document |
Anglais
|
Date de production/écriture |
2024-06
|
Public visé |
Scientifique
|
Page/Identifiant |
22 p.
|
Projet(s) ANR |
|
Domaine(s) |
|
Référence interne |
|
Origine :
Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s)
Loading...