The sustainability of empire in a global perspective: The role of international trade patterns

Roberto Bonfatti

Journal of International Economics, 2017, vol. 108, issue C, 137-156

Abstract: I construct a model in which a colony trades raw materials for manufactures with the mother country and the rest of the world, and can rebel at the cost of some trade disruption with the mother country. Decolonisation is more likely when the rest of the world is more abundant in manufactures, or scarcer in raw materials: this is because trade policy in the rest of the world is more favourable to a rebel colony, while trade policy within the empire is more restrictive. I use my results to explain the timing of the American Revolution, and the Latin American Revolutionary Wars. I discuss some important implications for the history of colonialism.

Keywords: Colonial trade; Rise and fall of empires; Economic legacy of colonialism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D74 F1 N4 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Working Paper: The Sustainability of Empire in Global Perspective: The Role of International Trade Patterns (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:inecon:v:108:y:2017:i:c:p:137-156

DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2017.06.002

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