Cogneau Denis auteur aut IRD Dupraz Y. auteur aut IRD Mesplé-Somps Sandrine auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng What was the capacity of European colonial states? How fiscally extractive were they? What was their capacity to provide public goods and services? And did this change in the 'developmentalist' era of colonialism? To answer these questions, we use archival sources to build a new dataset on colonial states of the second French colonial empire (1830-1962). French colonial states extracted a substantial amount of revenue, but they were under-administered because public expenditure entailed high wage costs. These costs remained a strong constraint in the 'developmentalist' era of colonialism, despite a dramatic increase in fiscal capacity and large overseas subsidies. specialized AFRIQUE FRANCE 094 112 114 81 2 441-480 2021 0022-0507 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/PAR00022895 10.1017/S0022050721000140 0022-0507 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/PAR00022895 IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2021-08-31 2025-02-24 PAR00022895 fre