scholarly journals British Colonial Institutions and Economic Development in India

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shilpi Kapur ◽  
Sukkoo Kim
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
British Colonial ◽  
Colonial Institutions

Colonial development by intersector labour transfer, 1950–69

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Toye
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
Development Plan ◽  
Successful Development ◽  
Kwame Nkrumah ◽  
The Bible ◽  
British Colonial ◽  
Rapid Industrialization

As the colonization approach, metropolitan power tried to legitimize their rule by claiming that they aim at economic development. Arthur Lewis criticized the British colonial development plan for lacking comprehensiveness and, in the 1940s, laid out his own manifesto for rapid industrialization. Later, in Manchester University, he wrote the significant 1951 UN report on development and his famous article on development by intersector labour transfer. His controversy with Herbert Frankel did not satisfy the critiques, but became the bible for those who identify development with industrialization. Lewis’s time as a policy advisor to Ghana Kwame Nkrumah left him doubtful about the possibility of successful development planning and he effectively withdrew from the development scene, despite retaining Enlightenment values.

The colonial exports pattern, institutions and current economic performance

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tania El Kallab ◽  
Cristina Terra
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Resource Curse ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Long Run ◽  
French Colonies ◽  
Colonial Institutions ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThis paper explores the role of colonial heritage on long-term economic development from a resource-curse perspective. The authors investigate the impact of colonial exports on long-term economic development through two channels: (1) a direct impact of the economic dependency on natural resources and (2) an indirect impact via its effect on colonial institutions, which persisted over time and influenced current economic development.Design/methodology/approachTo address this issue, the authors use an original data set on French bilateral trade from 1880 to 1912. The authors use partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in the empirical analysis, so that the authors are able to construct latent variables (LVs) for variables that are not directly observable, such as the quality of institutions.FindingsThe authors find that exports of primary goods to France had a negative impact on colonial institutions and that for French colonies, this impact was driven by minerals exports. Despite its impact on colonial institutions, exports of French colonies had no significant indirect impact on their current institutions. The authors find no significant direct impact of colonial trade on current development for French colonies. Finally, colonial exports of manufactured products had no significant impact on colonial institutions among French colonies and a positive impact among non-French ones.Research limitations/implicationsResearch implications regarding the findings of this paper are, namely, that the relative poor performance within French colonies today cannot be attributed to the extraction of raw materials a century ago. However, human capital and institutional development, instead of exports, are more relatively important for long-term growth. Some limitations in trying to determine the simultaneous relationship among colonial trade, institutions and economic performance are the relation between colonial trade and the extent of extraction from the colonizer, which is hard to quantify, as well as its precise mechanism.Practical implicationsSince the initial institutions set in those former colonies presented a strong persistence in the long run, their governments should focus now on building sound and inclusive political and economic institutions, as well as on investing in human capital in order to foster long-term growth. Once a comprehensive set of institutional and human resources are put in place, the quality and quantity of exports might create a positive spillover on the short-run growth.Social implicationsOne social implication that can be retrieved from this study is the ever-lasting effect of both human capital investment and introduction of inclusive political and economic institutions on the long-run impact of growth.Originality/valueThe paper uses an original primary data set from archival sources to explore the role of colonial heritage on long-term economic development from a resource-curse perspective. It applies a relatively new model partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) that allows the construction of LVs for variables that are not directly observable, as well as channeling the impact on growth through both direct and indirect channels. Finally, it allows for the simultaneous multigroup analysis across different colonial groups.

The Influence of Tradition on Agriculture in New Mexico

1942 ◽  
Vol 2 (S1) ◽  
pp. 34-51
Author(s):  
Sanford A. Mosk
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
New Mexico ◽  
Resistance To Change ◽  
Social Institutions ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Spanish Colonial ◽  
Vital Force ◽  
Physical Resources ◽  
Colonial Institutions ◽  
Anglo American

In New Mexico Spanish civilization left a deep imprint. There the economic and social institutions which established themselves firmly in the Spanish colonial period profoundly influenced the course of subsequent economic development, and are a vital force today. Human problems in contemporary New Mexico cannot be understood, nor can plans for the use of her human and physical resources be made, without understanding the colonial institutions, their strong resistance to change, and the mutual adjustments between them and Anglo-American institutions.

The Colonial Office

2020 ◽  
pp. 42-78
Author(s):  
Robert L. Tignor
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Development Economics ◽  
West Indian ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
British Government ◽  
Privileged Access ◽  
British Colonial ◽  
Hiring Policies ◽  
Colonial Office

This chapter examines W. Arthur Lewis's frequent contacts with the British Colonial Office from the late 1930s until 1953, first as a member of West Indian delegations seeking to alter the hiring policies of the British government and after that as an adviser and consultant on projects designed to promote colonial economic development. His work at the Colonial Office had been pivotal for his career as a development economist. During this decade and a half, he often found himself battling with the Colonial Office over development priorities. Despite the strained personal and intellectual relations with officials at the Colonial Office, Lewis's experiences with the Colonial Office provided privileged access to information on colonial economies and spurred his thinking and writing about development economics. Lewis first elaborated many of his most influential concepts in the field of economic development and staked out his reputation as the founder of development economics through the countless reports and memorandums that he wrote for the Colonial Office.

Clément Juglar and Algeria: three pillars of modern anti-colonial criticism

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 393-408
Author(s):  
ANTOINE PARENT ◽  
ROBERT BUTLER
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Conventional Wisdom ◽  
French Colonialism ◽  
Colonial Institutions

AbstractThe objective of this paper is to recall the forgotten opposition of Clément Juglar to the colonization of Algeria, the originality of this position, and his contributions to the genesis of analysing colonial institutions. Juglar was not a theoretician of colonialism, but a liberal economist who rejected the process of colonization on economic grounds. This paper provides evidence that conventional wisdom on French colonialism is indebted to his work. The issues of capital returns in the colonies, French colonialism as mercantilism and protectionism, and the role of colonial institutions in economic development were all addressed by Juglar. He identified property rights and colonial institutions as central issues in his explanation of the predictable failure of colonialism, and in doing so he can be regarded as a forerunner of neo-institutionalist analysis of colonialism.

The Grooming of an Elite: Malay Administrators in the Federated Malay States, 1903–1941

1980 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yeo Kim Wah
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
Central Component ◽  
New Order ◽  
Colonial Rule ◽  
British Colonial ◽  
The Government ◽  
Indirect Rule

Between 1874 and 1888, British colonial rule was imposed on the Malay states of Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, and Pahang later collectively called the Federated Malay States (FMS). Based on the various Anglo-Malay treaties, which maintained the fiction that the British Resident was an adviser to the Malay ruler, the British established a form of administration generally known as a system of indirect rule. In this new order, the Malay rulers retained their constitutional and ceremonial role, while the exercise of executive power was held firmly in British hands. In the rush for establishing a modern administration and accelerating economic development late in the nineteenth century, hardly any attention was paid to training Malays to share executive power with British officials at the higher level of government or to compete effectively with Indians, Eurasians, and Chinese for subordinate appointments. This sin of omission began to stir the British conscience at the turn of the century and, for the next four decades, the British pursued a policy of actively promoting Malay employment in the government. This paper discusses the central component of this policy, namely, the training, recruitment, and development of Malay administrators in the FMS.

scholarly journals How Africans Shaped British Colonial Institutions: Evidence from Local Taxation

2020 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
pp. 1189-1223
Author(s):  
Jutta Bolt ◽  
Leigh Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Rural Population ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Quantitative Comparison ◽  
Gold Coast ◽  
Local Taxation ◽  
British Colonial ◽  
Colonial Institutions ◽  
Colonial Government ◽  
Indirect Rule ◽  
Economic Inequalities

The institutions that governed most of the rural population in British colonial Africa have been neglected in the literature on colonialism. We use new data on local governments, or “Native Authorities,” to present the first quantitative comparison of African institutions under indirect rule in four colonies in 1948: Nigeria, the Gold Coast, Nyasaland, and Kenya. Tax data show that Native Authorities’ capacity varied within and between colonies, due to both underlying economic inequalities and African elites’ relations with the colonial government. Our findings suggest that Africans had a bigger hand in shaping British colonial institutions than often acknowledged.

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