'De-industrialisation' and colonial rule: The cotton textile industry in Indonesia, 1820-1941
Abstract
Did colonial rule in Indonesia have a de-industrialising impact? Using the case of the cotton textile industry, this paper finds little evidence. Value added in the industry increased in Java during 1820-71, increased more than three-fold during 1874-1914 and doubled during 1934-41. Most activity involved finishing of imported cotton cloth. Spinning and weaving increased marginally, as high labour intensity of small-scale production, marginal local raw cotton production, and competitive international markets for yarn and cloth precluded domestic production. Unfavourable real exchange rates discouraged investment in modern spinning and weaving ventures. From 1934, production increased rapidly due to trade protection and technological change in small-scale weaving.Download Info
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.Bibliographic Info
Paper provided by The Australian National University, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics in its series Departmental Working Papers with number 2007-04.Length: 31 pages
Date of creation: 2007
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:pas:papers:2007-04
Contact details of provider:
Postal: Crawford Building, Lennox Crossing, Building #132, Canberra ACT 0200
Phone: +61 2 6125 4705
Fax: +61 2 6125 5448
Email:
Web page: https://crawford.anu.edu.au/acde/publications/
More information through EDIRC
Related research
Keywords: Cotton textiles; manufacturing; Indonesia; trade policy; technological change;Find related papers by JEL classification:
- F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
- L67 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - Other Consumer Nondurables
- N65 - Economic History - - Manufacturing and Construction - - - Asia including Middle East
- O14 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
- O33 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change; Research and Development; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
- NEP-ALL-2007-06-11 (All new papers)
- NEP-DEV-2007-06-11 (Development)
- NEP-HIS-2007-06-11 (Business, Economic & Financial History)
- NEP-SEA-2007-06-11 (South East Asia)
References
No references listed on IDEASYou can help add them by filling out this form.
Citations
Lists
This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.Statistics
Access and download statisticsCorrections
When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pas:papers:2007-04For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ().
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 references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.
If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link 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 profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

