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Trade and Empire

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Author Info
Kris James Mitchener
Marc Weidenmier

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Abstract

Although many modern studies find large and significant effects of prior colonial status on bilateral trade, there is very little empirical research that has focused on the contemporaneous impact of empire on trade. We employ a new database of over 21,000 bilateral trade observations during the Age of High Imperialism, 1870-1913, to quantitatively assess the effect of empire on trade. Our augmented gravity model shows that belonging to an empire roughly doubled trade relative to those countries that were not part of an empire. The positive impact that empire exerts on trade does not appear to be sensitive to whether the metropole was Britain, France, Germany, Spain, or the United States or to the inclusion of other institutional factors such as being on the gold standard. In addition, we examine some of the channels through which colonial status impacted bilateral trade flows. The empirical analysis suggests that empires increased trade by lowering transactions costs and by establishing trade policies that promoted trade within empires. In particular, the use of a common language, the establishment of currency unions, the monetizing of recently acquired colonies, preferential trade arrangements, and customs unions help to account for the observed increase in trade associated with empire.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 13765.

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Date of creation: Jan 2008
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13765

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
F33 - International Economics - - International Finance - - - International Monetary Arrangements and Institutions
N20 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - General, International, or Comparative
N23 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - Europe: Pre-1913
N40 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, and Regulation - - - General, International, or Comparative

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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Guilllaume Daudin, Matthias Morys and Kevin H. O'Rourke, 2008. "Globalization, 1870-1914," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp250, IIIS. [Downloadable!]
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  2. Niall Ferguson & Moritz Schularick, 2005. "The Empire Effect: Country Risk in the First Age of Globalization, 1880-1913," Economic History 0509002, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  3. Pinilla, Vicente & Serranoz, Raul, 2008. "The agricultural and food trade in the first globalisation: Spanish table wine exports 1871 to 1935 – a case study," Working Papers 42657, American Association of Wine Economists. [Downloadable!]
  4. David S. Jacks & Christopher M. Meissner & Dennis Novy, 2009. "Trade Booms, Trade Busts, and Trade Costs," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Herzfeld, T. & Drescher, L.S. & Grebitus, C., 2008. "Spread of retailer food quality standards: An international perspective," 2008 International Congress, August 26-29, 2008, Ghent, Belgium 44005, European Association of Agricultural Economists. [Downloadable!]
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