IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/afc/cliome/v17y2023i1p125-154.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

British slave emancipation and the demand for Brazilian sugar

Author

Listed:
  • Christopher David Absell

    (Dipartimento di Economia e Management, Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italy)

Abstract

This paper studies the effect of British slave emancipation on the sugar industry in the north-east of Brazil. Combining pre-existing annual data on Brazilian exports and British, French, American and Hanseatic imports with a new monthly series of imports to Liverpool and New York, I argue that the British policies following emancipation were related to a rapid increase in the demand for Brazilian sugar in the British market towards the end of mid-century. The results of an interrupted time series analysis show that the effect was particularly large following the end of apprenticeship in 1838 and the passage of the Sugar Act in 1846. I estimate that over the period 1827–1853, slave emancipation increased Brazil’s market share by around five per cent, which corresponded to between 15 and 28 per cent of the volume of Brazilian exports. A comparison with markets unaffected by such policy treatments demonstrates that these trends were confined to the British market.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher David Absell, 2023. "British slave emancipation and the demand for Brazilian sugar," Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 17(1), pages 125-154, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:afc:cliome:v:17:y:2023:i:1:p:125-154
    DOI: 10.1007/s11698-021-00241-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11698-021-00241-6
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to journal subscribers
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11698-021-00241-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kris James Mitchener & Marc Weidenmier, 2008. "Trade and Empire," NBER Working Papers 13765, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Jushan Bai & Pierre Perron, 1998. "Estimating and Testing Linear Models with Multiple Structural Changes," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 66(1), pages 47-78, January.
    3. Engerman, Stanley L., 1984. "Economic change and contract labor in the British Caribbean: The end of slavery and the adjustment to emancipation," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 133-150, April.
    4. Kris James Mitchener & Marc Weidenmier, 2008. "Trade and Empire," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(533), pages 1805-1834, November.
    5. Alejandro Ayuso‐Díaz & Antonio Tena‐Junguito, 2020. "Trade in the shadow of power: Japanese industrial exports in the interwar years," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 73(3), pages 815-843, August.
    6. Ariel Linden, 2015. "Conducting interrupted time-series analysis for single- and multiple-group comparisons," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 15(2), pages 480-500, June.
    7. Ariel Linden, 2017. "A comprehensive set of postestimation measures to enrich interrupted time-series analysis," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 17(1), pages 73-88, March.
    8. Curtin, Philip D., 1954. "The British Sugar Duties and West Indian Prosperity," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(2), pages 157-164, April.
    9. Eltis, David, 1987. "Economic Growth and the Ending of the Transatlantic Slave Trade," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195041354.
    10. Christopher David Absell, 2020. "The rise of coffee in the Brazilian southeast: tariffs and foreign market potential, 1827-40," Working Papers 0175, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    11. Williamson, Jeffrey G., 1990. "The impact of the Corn Laws just prior to repeal," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 123-156, April.
    12. Giovanni Federico, 2012. "The Corn Laws in continental perspective," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 16(2), pages 166-187, May.
    13. KrisJames Mitchener & Marc Weidenmier, 2008. "Trade and Empire," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(533), pages 1805-1834, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christopher David Absell, 2023. "British slave emancipation and the demand for Brazilian sugar," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 17(1), pages 125-154, January.
    2. Christopher David Absell, 2020. "The rise of coffee in the Brazilian south‐east: tariffs and foreign market potential, 1827–40," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 73(4), pages 964-990, November.
    3. Mwita Chacha & Szymon Stojek, 2019. "Colonial ties and civil conflict intervention: Clarifying the causal mechanisms," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 36(1), pages 42-62, January.
    4. Antoine Berthou & Hélène Ehrhart, 2017. "Trade networks and colonial trade spillovers," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(4), pages 891-923, September.
    5. Ewout Frankema & Jeffrey Williamson & Pieter Woltjer, 2015. "An Economic Rationale for the African Scramble: The Commercial Transition and the Commodity Price Boom of 1845-1885," NBER Working Papers 21213, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Luigi Pascali, 2017. "The Wind of Change: Maritime Technology, Trade, and Economic Development," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(9), pages 2821-2854, September.
    7. Christopher M. Meissner & John P. Tang, 2017. "Upstart Industrialization and Exports, Japan 1880-1910," NBER Working Papers 23481, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Gavin Wright, 2020. "Slavery and Anglo‐American capitalism revisited," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 73(2), pages 353-383, May.
    9. Bonfatti, Roberto, 2017. "The sustainability of empire in a global perspective: The role of international trade patterns," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 137-156.
    10. Daniel Berger & William Easterly & Nathan Nunn & Shanker Satyanath, 2013. "Commercial Imperialism? Political Influence and Trade during the Cold War," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(2), pages 863-896, April.
    11. Guy Martial Takam Fongang, 2017. "Adoption and impact of improved maize varieties on maize yield in Cameroon: A macro-impact evaluation," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 37(4), pages 2496-2504.
    12. Jacks, David S. & Meissner, Christopher M. & Novy, Dennis, 2010. "Trade costs in the first wave of globalization," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 127-141, April.
    13. Sascha O. Becker & Katrin Boeckh & Christa Hainz & Ludger Woessmann, 2016. "The Empire Is Dead, Long Live the Empire! Long‐Run Persistence of Trust and Corruption in the Bureaucracy," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 126(590), pages 40-74, February.
    14. Hong, Sunmin & Jeong, Dohyo & Kim, Pyung, 2024. "Have offender demographics changed since the COVID-19 pandemic? Evidence from money mules in South Korea," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    15. Samba Diop & Simplice A. Asongu, 2022. "The impact of Covid-19 and Russia-Ukraine war on food prices in fragile countries: misfortunes never come singly," Working Papers 22/055, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    16. Chilosi, David & Murphy, Tommy E. & Studer, Roman & Tunçer, A. Coşkun, 2013. "Europe's many integrations: Geography and grain markets, 1620–1913," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 46-68.
    17. Emmanuelle Lavallée & Julie Lochard, 2012. "Independence and trade: the specic effects of French colonialism," Post-Print hal-01609942, HAL.
    18. Huberman, Michael & Meissner, Christopher M. & Oosterlinck, Kim, 2017. "Technology and Geography in the Second Industrial Revolution: New Evidence from the Margins of Trade," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 77(1), pages 39-89, March.
    19. Elvina Merkaj & Raffaella Santolini, 2021. "National Policies In Response To The Covid-19 Pandemic: The Case Of Friuli-Venezia-Giulia And Umbria," Working Papers 456, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    20. Daniel Cassidy & Nick Hanley, 2022. "Union, border effects, and market integration in Britain," Working Papers 0228, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    British slave emancipation · Sugar · Brazil · Nineteenth century;

    JEL classification:

    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • N76 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services - - - Latin America; Caribbean
    • Q02 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Commodity Market

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:afc:cliome:v:17:y:2023:i:1:p:125-154. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/afcccea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.