Wed Jan 3 11:33:47 EST 2007
Published by EH.NET (January 2007)
P.C. Emmer, O. P=E9tr=E9-Grenouilleau and J.V. Roitman, editors, _A Deus
ex Machina Revisited: Atlantic Colonial Trade and European Economic
Development_. Leiden: Brill, 2006. xxix + 358 pp. $134 (cloth), ISBN:
90-04-15102-8.
Reviewed for EH.NET by Stanley L. Engerman, Departments of Economics
and History, University of Rochester.
These fourteen essays, based upon a conference held in September
2001, all by European scholars and with all but one by historians,
are concerned with two major staples of the study of modern European
economic development. First is the role of foreign trade,
particularly colonial trade, upon the economic expansion of the
different European economies. Second is the related issue of the
impact of external versus internal forces on institutions and market
size, and thus on economic changes. Several touch on the Eric
Williams question of the role of the slave trade in
industrialization, but this is not a major concern in this volume
relative to the broader issue of colonial shipping and trade.
The essays differ in method, approach, and at times, conclusions, but
all are useful in providing information about the areas studied. Only
half the essays contain tables, making for a total of thirty-seven,
while fewer provide the nine figures. Nonetheless most essays are
quite useful in presenting relevant data, and there are numerous
useful sources to the examination of specific countries and colonies.
As often in these type of studies, authors play down the role of
so-called small numbers in suggesting a limited impact for trade,
using terms such as "dynamic," "at the margin," "qualitative," "spill
over effects," "important and dynamic side effects," and "cultural
factors" to bolster the argument for importance. In discussing the
claim that small causes have large effects, Patrick O'Brien astutely
notes that "we might rhetorically inquire if small outcomes could
flow from large changes to endogenous variables."
The short introduction by the editors is well-done and provides a
useful summary of the conclusions of most of the essays. The three
main general conclusions are: (1) "With the possible exception of
Britain -- trade to and from the non-Western world was marginal and
served as a chasse gard=E9e for uncompetitive firms," since
mercantilist policies permitted them to be non-competitive. And the
taxes and losses in warfare needed to define and administer colonies
were quite expensive. Trade within Europe "was many times larger"
than trade with the rest-of-the-world. (2) "Spin-off effects of
non-European trade were limited in economic as well as in geographic
scope." (3) The "'British model' of expansion and colonial trade
seems to have been the exception, not the rule," although "even in
the British case, there are signs that the exploitation of its
colonial empire benefited a few at the expense of many."
The substantive essays are of two types. First are the more general
ones covering the entire continent, and second are the several
country studies of the leading European nations. These are Spain,
Portugal, the Netherlands, Britain, France (given two essays), the
Baltic Nations, Denmark-Norway, and Sweden. Their coverage runs from
the fourteenth to the twentieth century, with most attention to the
years after1600.
The first two essays, by Patrick O'Brien and Michel Morineau, provide
excellent surveys of different aspects of the major debates. O'Brien
places the writings of Smith, Marx, Weber, and more recent analysts
in perspective, in explaining Asian-European differences, and points
to a recent "Eurocentric Comeback," in explaining the start and the
sustaining of the Industrial Revolution. Morineau describes trading
patterns between Europe and its colonies, and argues for the role of
foreign markets and the colonial use of slave labor in spurring
economic development in the West. Bouda Etemad presents a very useful
set of tables on trade and related data for six major European
countries for the period between 1860 and 1913. He points to a shift
back to the importance of intra-European trade after the start of the
nineteenth century. In his description of changing patterns of trade
by France, Patrick Verley states that, within Europe, "the colonies
played a minor role in industrialization." This was apparently true
not only of France, which fell behind, but of England, which
maintained its leads in trade and economic development despite the
gains of Germany and the U.S. after the last third of the nineteenth
century. In an interesting discussion of intra-European trade, based
on coastal shipping data from 1400 to 1900, G=E9rard Le Bou=EBdac,
sketches the changing fortunes of the European nations over time,
including the sharp decline of France, losing out, first, to the
Dutch, and then to the British.
The study of the Spanish colonial trade by Manuel Bustos Rodr=EDguez
details the patterns under mercantile control and then the rise of
free trade in 1778, focusing on regional differences within Spain.
Niels Wiecker and Horst Pietschmann's essay on Portugal does not
present any overall analysis, but does provide an excellent
bibliographic review of the relevant literature in several languages.
Pieter Emmer's essay contains a useful survey both of the general
pattern of European colonization and a detailed description of the
Dutch developments over several centuries, dealing with the initial
rise of Dutch shipping and then its decline with the British
expansion. The reasons given for the Dutch decline are the superior
British system of revenue collection, the willingness of British
migrants to leave Britain and to go the Americas, and the acceptance
by British consumers of the payment of subsidies to British shippers
and West Indian planters.
Based upon his many years of excellent research and analysis,
Fran=E7ois Crouzet discusses British exports from 1701-1913,
emphasizing the changes over time in the importance of the different
markets for British exports. Two essays on France approach the
problem quite differently. Guillaume Daudin attempts to measure
profits from intercontinental and colonial trade. While these added
only a small percentage to French income and savings, Daudin argues
for a large effect because of the additional impact upon capital
formation. On the other hand, Olivier P=E9tr=E9 Grenouilleau examines the=
relevant literature from 1600 to 1960, arguing that the foreign trade
had limited impact on economic growth but only after the late
nineteenth century and not in the period of industrialization. This
was due, in part, to the earlier impact of colonial trade having had
undesirable effects, limiting the pace of economic growth.
The three essays in the section on the Baltic Region cover areas not
generally discussed in the industrialization debate. A regional
overview by Pierrick Pourchasse describes the failures of France and
the Netherlands and the rise of the British in shipping and in shares
of trade after the start of the eighteenth century, permitting them
"to gain control of the trade with the North and, therefore, to
supply without difficulty the industrial sectors of prime importance
to the British economy, such as shipbuilding and the metal industry."
Dan H. Andersen's study of Denmark does give some attention to the
role of the slave trade, and the African and Caribbean markets. The
conclusion that is slavery and sugar did not have a very great impact
on the Danish economy, nor since Danish industrialization did not
really start until the middle of the nineteenth century, on overall
industry, except for sugar refining. The discussion of Swedish
economic development by Leos M=FCller points to the "invariably
insignificant" Swedish colonial trade, not surprising since the
Swedish colonial empire was rather small and transient. There were
foreign markets for Swedish exports of iron, at first to the
Netherlands and then to Britain. Also of note is the discussion of
the trade between Sweden and China, which contributed to Swedish
growth, as did, according to M=FCller, Swedish trade in general.
The value of this volume is in its wider geographic coverage, and the
primary focus of these essays on the nature and role of colonial and
foreign trade. There are questions to be raised about aspects of the
analysis in many of the essays and the particular conclusions
reached, but that will not reduce their value in presenting
information. This is an important book, to be read by historians of
early modern Europe and of the economic changes in those years.
Stanley L. Engerman is John H. Munro Professor of Economics and
Professor of History at the University of Rochester.
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