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The Black Man's Burden: The Cost of Colonization of French West Africa

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  • Huillery, Elise

Abstract

Was colonization costly for France? Did French taxpayers contribute to colonies’ development? This article reveals that French West Africa's colonization took only 0.29 percent of French annual expenditures, including 0.24 percent for military and central administration and 0.05 percent for French West Africa's development. For West Africans, the contribution from French taxpayers was almost negligible: mainland France provided about 2 percent of French West Africa's revenue. In fact, colonization was a considerable burden for African taxpayers since French civil servants’ salaries absorbed a disproportionate share of local expenditures.

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  • Huillery, Elise, 2014. "The Black Man's Burden: The Cost of Colonization of French West Africa," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 74(1), pages 1-38, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:74:y:2014:i:01:p:1-38_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Baten, Jörg & Cappelli, Gabriele, 2016. "The Evolution of Human Capital in Africa, 1730 – 1970: A Colonial Legacy?," CEPR Discussion Papers 11273, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Ellen Hillbom & Jutta Bolt & Michiel de Haas & Federico Tadei, 2024. "Income inequality and export‐oriented commercialization in colonial Africa: Evidence from six countries," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 77(3), pages 975-1004, August.
    3. Johnson, Noel D. & Koyama, Mark, 2017. "States and economic growth: Capacity and constraints," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 1-20.
    4. Cornelius Christian & James Fenske, 2015. "Economic shocks and unrest in French West Africa," CSAE Working Paper Series 2015-01, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    5. Koddenbrock, Kai & Kvangraven, Ingrid Harvold & Sylla, Ndongo Samba, 2020. "Beyond Financialisation: The Need for a Longue Durée Understanding of Finance in Imperialism," OSF Preprints pjt7x, Center for Open Science.
    6. Stéphane Becuwe & Bertrand Blancheton & Samuel Maveyraud, 2022. "New evidence on wine in French international trade (1848–1913): Import discrimination as export quality promotion," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(4), pages 1242-1269, November.
    7. Lassou, Philippe J.C. & Hopper, Trevor & Tsamenyi, Mathew & Murinde, Victor, 2019. "Varieties of neo-colonialism: Government accounting reforms in Anglophone and Francophone Africa – Benin and Ghana compared," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    8. El Badaoui, Eliane & Mangiavacchi, Lucia, 2018. "Fostering, Child Welfare, and Ethnic Cultural Values," IZA Discussion Papers 11691, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. repec:cte:whrepe:26085 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Federico Tadei, 2014. "Extractive Institutions and Gains From Trade: Evidence from Colonial Africa," Working Papers 536, IGIER (Innocenzo Gasparini Institute for Economic Research), Bocconi University.

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