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Slow growth, supply shocks and structural change: The GDP of the Cape Colony in the late nineteenth century

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  • Lorraine Greyling
  • Grietjie Verhoef

Abstract

The trajectory of South African economic development starts in the colonial economies. No systematic data exists on the Gross Domestic Product of the territories that formed the Union of South Africa in 1910. A comprehensive project to reconstruct nineteenth-century Gross Domestic Project (GDP) for the different territories can now report for the first time on actual Cape Colony GDP data. This paper presents the findings of reconstructed Cape Colony GDP according to the SNA. It confirms earlier estimates, refines very tentative projections of Cape Colony GDP during the nineteenth century and offers new insights into the nature and direction of the settler economy in the nineteenth century. It also pioneers data on the Cape Colony GDP and is the first in a series outlining nineteenth-century GDP of the territories that formed the Union of South Africa in 1910.

Suggested Citation

  • Lorraine Greyling & Grietjie Verhoef, 2015. "Slow growth, supply shocks and structural change: The GDP of the Cape Colony in the late nineteenth century," Economic History of Developing Regions, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 23-43, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rehdxx:v:30:y:2015:i:1:p:23-43
    DOI: 10.1080/20780389.2015.1012711
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    Cited by:

    1. J. Fourie, 2018. "Cliometrics in South Africa," Studies in Economics and Econometrics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(2), pages 1-14, August.
    2. Fourie, Johan & Inwood, Kris & Mariotti, Martine, 2022. "Living standards in settler South Africa, 1865–1920," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    3. Abel Gwaindepi, 2019. "Serving God and Mammon: the ‘minerals-railway complex’ and its effects on colonial public finances in the British Cape Colony, 1810-1910," Working Papers 07/2019, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    4. Broadberry, Stephen & Gardner, Leigh, 2019. "Economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa, 1885-2008," Economic History Working Papers 100473, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    5. Abel Gwaindepi, 2022. "Fiscal capacity in ‘‘responsible government’’ colonies: the Cape Colony in comparative perspective, c. 1865–1910 [The spread of empire: Clio and the measurement of colonial borrowing costs]," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 26(3), pages 340-369.
    6. Abel Gwaindepi & Johan Fourie, 2020. "Public Sector Growth in the British Cape Colony: Evidence From New Data on Expenditure and Foreign Debt, 1830‐1910," South African Journal of Economics, Economic Society of South Africa, vol. 88(3), pages 341-367, September.
    7. Peter H. Lindert, 2016. "Purchasing Power Disparity before 1914," NBER Working Papers 22896, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Stephen Broadberry & Leigh Gardner, 2019. "Economic Growth In Sub-Saharan Africa, 1885-2008," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _169, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.

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