IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/compes/v60y2018i3d10.1057_s41294-017-0040-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

French Colonial Trade Patterns and European Settlements

Author

Listed:
  • Tania El Kallab

    (Lebanese American University
    ESSEC Business School)

  • Cristina Terra

    (ESSEC Business School
    THEMA)

Abstract

We construct a new database relying on various primary historical sources containing information on the value of French sectoral trade between 1880 and 1913 in order to assess the contemporaneous effects of colonial European settlements on French trade patterns. Our empirical results show that French colonies with more European settlements traded more with France. The impact is stronger with respect to the imports of raw materials and exports of manufactured goods from France to their colonies, suggesting that those territories were a source of resources for France and a market for its products. European settlements in colonies other than the French ones did not impact the trade of those colonies with France. We also explore to what extent the impact of European settlements on trade was exerted through the channel of the institutions brought by the settlers. Separating the part of European settlements associated with institutions, we find that the settlements associated with stronger institutions in French colonies had a positive impact on trade with those colonies. No significant impact was found for non-French colonies.

Suggested Citation

  • Tania El Kallab & Cristina Terra, 2018. "French Colonial Trade Patterns and European Settlements," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 60(3), pages 291-331, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:compes:v:60:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1057_s41294-017-0040-6
    DOI: 10.1057/s41294-017-0040-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41294-017-0040-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41294-017-0040-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Samir Amin, 1972. "Underdevelopment and Dependence in Black Africa: Historical Origin," Journal of Peace Research, Peace Research Institute Oslo, vol. 9(2), pages 105-119, June.
    2. Alam, M S, 1994. "Colonialism, Decolonisation and Growth Rates: Theory and Empirical Evidence," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 18(3), pages 235-257, June.
    3. Anthony Briant & Pierre-Philippe Combes & Miren Lafourcade, 2014. "Product Complexity, Quality of Institutions and the Protrade Effect of Immigrants," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(1), pages 63-85, January.
    4. Andrew K. Rose, 1999. "One Money, One Market: Estimating the Effect of Common Currencies on Trade," NBER Working Papers 7432, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 1999. "The Quality of Government," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 15(1), pages 222-279, April.
    6. James Fenske, 2014. "Ecology, Trade, And States In Pre-Colonial Africa," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 612-640, June.
    7. Mayer, Thierry & Zignago, Soledad, 2006. "Notes on CEPII’s distances measures," MPRA Paper 26469, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Sandberg, H. Mikael & Seale, James L., Jr., 2012. "The Impact of Historical and Regional Networks on Trade Volumes within the Western Hemisphere: A Gravity Analysis across Sectors," 2012 Annual Meeting, February 4-7, 2012, Birmingham, Alabama 120071, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    9. Henri L. F. De Groot & Gert‐Jan Linders & Piet Rietveld & Uma Subramanian, 2004. "The Institutional Determinants of Bilateral Trade Patterns," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(1), pages 103-123, February.
    10. José de Sousa & Julie Lochard, 2012. "Trade and Colonial Status-super- †," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 21(3), pages 409-439, June.
    11. Kleiman, Ephraim, 1976. "Trade and the Decline of Colonialism," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 86(343), pages 459-480, September.
    12. Head, Keith & Mayer, Thierry & Ries, John, 2010. "The erosion of colonial trade linkages after independence," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 1-14, May.
    13. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson, 2001. "The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(5), pages 1369-1401, December.
    14. Nunn, Nathan & Trefler, Daniel, 2014. "Domestic Institutions as a Source of Comparative Advantage," Handbook of International Economics, in: Gopinath, G. & Helpman, . & Rogoff, K. (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 263-315, Elsevier.
    15. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James Robinson, 2005. "The Rise of Europe: Atlantic Trade, Institutional Change, and Economic Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(3), pages 546-579, June.
    16. Robert J. Barro, 1999. "Determinants of Democracy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 107(S6), pages 158-183, December.
    17. Rauch, James E., 1999. "Networks versus markets in international trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 7-35, June.
    18. Elise Huillery, 2011. "The Impact of European Settlement within French West Africa: Did Pre-colonial Prosperous Areas Fall Behind?," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 20(2), pages 263-311, March.
    19. Walmsley, Terrie & Ahmed, Syud Amer & Parsons, Christopher, 2005. "The Impact of Liberalizing Labor Mobility in the Pacific Region," GTAP Working Papers 1874, Center for Global Trade Analysis, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University.
    20. Reuven Glick, 2017. "Currency Unions and Regional Trade Agreements: EMU and EU Effects on Trade," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 59(2), pages 194-209, June.
    21. Federico Tadei, 2017. "Measuring Extractive Institutions: Colonial Trade and Price Gaps in French Africa," Working Papers 0109, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    22. repec:dau:papers:123456789/4316 is not listed on IDEAS
    23. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & James A. Robinson, 2002. "Reversal of Fortune: Geography and Institutions in the Making of the Modern World Income Distribution," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(4), pages 1231-1294.
    24. Nathan Nunn, 2008. "The Long-term Effects of Africa's Slave Trades," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(1), pages 139-176.
    25. Baier, Scott L. & Bergstrand, Jeffrey H., 2009. "Bonus vetus OLS: A simple method for approximating international trade-cost effects using the gravity equation," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 77-85, February.
    26. James Feyrer & Bruce Sacerdote, 2009. "Colonialism and Modern Income: Islands as Natural Experiments," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 91(2), pages 245-262, May.
    27. Béatrice Dedinger & Paul Girard, 2017. "Exploring trade globalization in the long run: The RICardo project," Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(1), pages 30-48, January.
    28. Kris James Mitchener & Marc Weidenmier, 2008. "Trade and Empire," NBER Working Papers 13765, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    29. Stéphane BECUWE & Bertrand BLANCHETON & Karine ONFROY, 2015. "French International Trade, dataset 1836-1938 Montesquieu Database," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2015-35, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    30. Gert-Jan Linders, 2004. "The Effect of Domestic Institutions on International Trade Flows: A sectoral analysis," ERSA conference papers ersa04p357, European Regional Science Association.
    31. Lavallée, Emmanuelle & Lochard, Julie, 2015. "The comparative effects of independence on trade," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 613-632.
    32. Ferguson, Niall & Schularick, Moritz, 2006. "The Empire Effect: The Determinants of Country Risk in the First Age of Globalization, 1880–1913," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 66(2), pages 283-312, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Thais Nunez-Rocha & Camelia Turcu, 2019. "Trade in Fuels and Environmental Regulation: A Two-Sided Story," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 61(2), pages 302-343, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cristina Terra & Tania El Kallab, 2014. "French Colonial Trade Patterns: European Settlement," THEMA Working Papers 2014-27, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
    2. Nunn, Nathan, 2014. "Historical Development," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 7, pages 347-402, Elsevier.
    3. Julie Lochard, 2016. "Intégration et échanges internationaux : effets contemporains et persistants," Erudite HDR / Erudite Accreditation to supervise Ph.D., Erudite, number hd16-01 edited by Jean-François Jacques, June.
    4. Long, Cheryl & Murrell, Peter & Yang, Li, 2019. "Memories of colonial law: The inheritance of human capital and the location of joint ventures in early-reform China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    5. Fenske, James, 2015. "African polygamy: Past and present," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 58-73.
    6. Olsson, Ola, 2007. "On the Institutional Legacy of Mercantilist and Imperialist Colonialism," Working Papers in Economics 247, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    7. Emmanuelle Lavallée & Julie Lochard, 2012. "Independence and trade: the specic effects of French colonialism," Post-Print hal-01609942, HAL.
    8. Broich, Tobias & Szirmai, Adam & Thomsson, Kaj, 2015. "Precolonial centralisation, foreign aid and modern state capacity in Africa," MERIT Working Papers 2015-025, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    9. Olsson, Ola, 2009. "On the democratic legacy of colonialism," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 534-551, December.
    10. Merima Ali & Odd-Helge Fjeldstad & Boqian Jiang & Abdulaziz B Shifa, 2019. "Colonial Legacy, State-building and the Salience of Ethnicity in Sub-Saharan Africa," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(619), pages 1048-1081.
    11. Ertan, Arhan & Fiszbein, Martin & Putterman, Louis, 2016. "Who was colonized and when? A cross-country analysis of determinants," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 165-184.
    12. Madeeha Gohar Qureshi & Unbreen Qayyum & Musleh Ud Din & Ejaz Ghani, 2021. "Acemoglu, Johnson and Robinson’s Notion of Exogenous Imposition of Colonial Institutions onto Colonies— A Critique in the Light of Historical Evidence," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 60(2), pages 133-152.
    13. James Fenske, 2014. "Ecology, Trade, And States In Pre-Colonial Africa," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 612-640, June.
    14. Javier Barbero & Giovanni Mandras & Ernesto Rodríguez-Crespo & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, 2021. "Quality of government and regional trade: evidence from European Union regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(7), pages 1240-1251, July.
    15. Gunes Gokmen & Wessel N. Vermeulen & Pierre-Louis Vézina, 2020. "The imperial roots of global trade," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 87-145, March.
    16. José de Sousa & Julie Lochard, 2008. "Trade and colonial status," Post-Print halshs-00323598, HAL.
    17. Sascha O. Becker & Katrin Boeckh & Christa Hainz & Ludger Woessmann, 2016. "The Empire Is Dead, Long Live the Empire! Long‐Run Persistence of Trust and Corruption in the Bureaucracy," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(590), pages 40-74, February.
    18. P. Dorian Owen, 2017. "Evaluating Ingenious Instruments for Fundamental Determinants of Long-Run Economic Growth and Development," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 5(3), pages 1-33, September.
    19. Fenske, James, 2015. "African polygamy: Past and present," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 58-73.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    International trade; Colonization; Institutions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • N53 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N74 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services - - - Europe: 1913-
    • O5 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:compes:v:60:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1057_s41294-017-0040-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.