Prebisch and Singer in the Egyptian cotton fields

This article explores new approaches to the study of colonial trade relationships between Egypt and Britain in the long 19th century. More specifically, it employs the Prebisch-Singer Hypothesis (PSH) to assess whether Egypt’s barter terms of trade (BTT) with Britain has deteriorated or improved during the long 19th century. The article argues that the BTT evolution is key to understanding two central phenomena of the modern capitalist era away from Weberian- and Sombartian-style culturalist interpretations. First is the growing uneven development–known as the Great Divergence–between the 'core' and the 'periphery' of the global economic system, and second is the rise of anti-colonial sentiments and policies in the Global South.