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

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 sca...

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Main Author: Bonfatti, Roberto
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/43642/
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author Bonfatti, Roberto
author_facet Bonfatti, Roberto
author_sort Bonfatti, Roberto
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description 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.
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spelling nottingham-436422020-05-04T19:55:35Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/43642/ The sustainability of empire in a global perspective: the role of international trade patterns Bonfatti, Roberto 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. Elsevier 2017-09 Article PeerReviewed Bonfatti, Roberto (2017) The sustainability of empire in a global perspective: the role of international trade patterns. Journal of International Economics, 108 . pp. 137-156. ISSN 0022-1996 (In Press) Colonial trade rise and fall of empires economic legacy of colonialism http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022199617300685 doi:10.1016/j.jinteco.2017.06.002 doi:10.1016/j.jinteco.2017.06.002
spellingShingle Colonial trade
rise and fall of empires
economic legacy of colonialism
Bonfatti, Roberto
The sustainability of empire in a global perspective: the role of international trade patterns
title The sustainability of empire in a global perspective: the role of international trade patterns
title_full The sustainability of empire in a global perspective: the role of international trade patterns
title_fullStr The sustainability of empire in a global perspective: the role of international trade patterns
title_full_unstemmed The sustainability of empire in a global perspective: the role of international trade patterns
title_short The sustainability of empire in a global perspective: the role of international trade patterns
title_sort sustainability of empire in a global perspective: the role of international trade patterns
topic Colonial trade
rise and fall of empires
economic legacy of colonialism
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/43642/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/43642/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/43642/