@techreport{fdi:010094060,
  title = {{C}olonialism on the cheap : {T}he {F}rench {E}mpire 1830-1962},
  author = {{C}ogneau, {D}enis and {D}upraz, {Y}. and {H}uillery, {E}. and {M}espl{\'e}-{S}omps, {S}andrine},
  editor = {},
  language = {{ENG}},
  abstract = {{H}ow much did {F}rance pay for its colonial empire? {D}id colonies benefit from large transfers from {F}rench taxpayers and private investors, or were they on the





contrary drained of their capital? {S}o far, {J}acques {M}arseille (1984) was the only attempt to investigate these questions, by deducting from the structural trade





deficit of the {F}rench colonies that they were a heavy financial burden for {F}rance. {W}e collect novel budgetary and loan data from archives and compute public





monetary flows between {F}rance and the colonies between 1833 and 1962. {W}e also provide figures of colonial private investment through the {P}aris {S}tock





{E}xchange. {P}ublic expenditure spent by {F}rance on the empire only represented 1.3% of its {GDP}, of which four fifths were in the military. {T}he persistent trade





balance deficits of {F}rench colonies did not correspond to large public or private capital transfers, as they were in fact counterbalanced by military expenditure





from the {M}etropole. {O}nce accounting for this, the colonial drain of the {F}rench empire is comparable to {B}ritish {I}ndia.},
  keywords = {{FRANCE}},
  address = {{P}aris},
  publisher = {{PSE}},
  series = {{W}orking {P}aper - {PSE}},
  pages = {55  multigr.},
  year = {2024},
  URL = {https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010094060},
}