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Trade and Colonial Status

José De Sousa () and Julie Lochard

No 10-12, Working Papers SMART from INRAE UMR SMART

Abstract: Does colonisation explain differences in trade performance across developing countries? In this paper, we analyse the differential impact of British versus French colonial legacies on the current trade of African ex-colonies. We initially find that former British colonies trade more, on average, than do their French counterparts. This difference might be the result of the relative superiority of British institutions. However, a core concern is the non-random selection of colonies by the British. Historians argue that with Britain, trade preceded colonisation. Using an instrument based on colonisation history to control for this endogeneity, we find no evidence of a systematic difference between the British and French colonial legacies with respect to trade. This finding suggests that the apparent better performance of British ex-colonies might be instead explained by pre-colonial conditions.

Keywords: Trade; colonisation; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F10 F54 O55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 p.
Date: 2010
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-his, nep-int and nep-mic
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Working Paper: Trade and Colonial Status (2010) Downloads
Working Paper: Trade and colonial status (2008)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rae:wpaper:201012

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