Cogneau Denis, Dupraz Y., Mesplé-Somps Sandrine. (2018). African states and development in historical perspective : colonial public finances in British and French West.
Paris : PSE, 36 p. multigr. (Working Paper - PSE ; 2018-29).
Titre du document
African states and development in historical perspective : colonial public finances in British and French West
Année de publication
2018
Type de document
Littérature grise
Auteurs
Cogneau Denis, Dupraz Y., Mesplé-Somps Sandrine
Source
Paris : PSE, 2018,
36 p. multigr. (Working Paper - PSE ; 2018-29).
Why does it seem so difficultto build a size able development a state in Africa ? A growing literature looks at the colonial roots of differences in economic development, often using the French/British difference as asource of variation to identify which features of the colonial pastmattered. We use historical archives to build a new data set of public finances in French and British colonies of West Africa from 1900 to in dependence.Though we find some significant differences between French and British colonies, we conclude that over all patterns of public finances were similarin both empires. The most striking fact is the greatin crease in expenditure per capitain the last decades of colonization : it quadrupled between the end o World War II and independence. This increase inexpenditure was made possible partly by an increase incustoms revenue due to rising trade flows, but mostly by policy changes: netsubsidies from colonizers to their colonies became positive, while, within the colonies, direct and indirect taxation rates increased. We conclude that the last fifteen years of colonization area key period tounderstand colonial legacies.
Plan de classement
Economie nationale [094ECONAT]
;
Histoire [112HISTO]
