Cogneau Denis auteur aut IRD Dupraz Y. auteur aut IRD Mesplé-Somps Sandrine auteur aut IRD text report Litérature grise eng text/pdf reformatted digital access 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. specialized HISTOIRE ECONOMIQUE FISCALITE COLONISATION ANALYSE ECONOMIQUE DEVELOPPEMENT ECONOMIQUE AFRIQUE DE L'OUEST FRANCE ROYAUME UNI 094ECONAT 112HISTO Paris PSE 2018 2018-29 36 multigr. 36 multigr. 36 multigr. https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010072984 [F B010072984] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010072984 https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/divers18-07/010072984.pdf IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2018-07-03 2018-08-09 fdi:010072984 fre