The Economic History of the Caribbean Since the Napoleonic Wars

734 Pages·2012·16.005 MB·English

by  V. Bulmer-Thomas

TheEconomicHistoryoftheCaribbean
sincetheNapoleonicWars
ThisbookexaminestheeconomichistoryoftheCaribbeaninthe200years
sincetheNapoleonicWarsandisthefirstsuchanalysistospanthewhole
region.Itisdividedintothreeparts,eachcenteredaroundaparticularcase
study:thefirstfocusesonthenineteenthcentury(‘TheAgeofFreeTrade’);
the second considers the period up to 1960 (‘The Age of Preferences’);
andthefinalsectionconcernsthehalfcenturyfromtheCubanRevolution
to the present (‘The Age of Globalisation’). The study makes use of a
specially constructed database to observe trends across the whole region
and chart the progress of nearly thirty individual countries. Its findings
challenge many long-standing assumptions about the region, and its in-
depth case studies shed new light on the history of three countries in
particular,namely,Belize,CubaandHaiti.
Victor Bulmer-Thomas is Emeritus Professor of Economics at the Uni-
versity of London and Honorary Research Fellow with the University’s
InstitutefortheStudyoftheAmericas.HeisalsoaSeniorDistinguished
Fellow of the School of Advanced Study at London University and an
Associate Fellow in the Americas Programme at Chatham House, where
he was Director from 2001 to 2006; he was Director of the Institute
of Latin American Studies, London University, from 1992 to 1998. His
publicationsincludeTheEconomicHistoryofLatinAmericasinceInde-
pendence(2nded.,2003),ThePoliticalEconomyofCentralAmericasince
1920(1987)andInput-OutputAnalysisforDevelopingCountries(1982).
HeisalsocoeditorofTheCambridgeEconomicHistoryofLatinAmerica
(2006).

The Economic History of the Caribbean
since the Napoleonic Wars
VICTOR BULMER-THOMAS
UniversityofLondon
cambridgeuniversitypress
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Singapore,Sa˜oPaulo,Delhi,MexicoCity
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Firstpublished2012
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationdata
Bulmer-Thomas,V.
TheeconomichistoryoftheCaribbeansincetheNapoleonicwars/VictorBulmer-Thomas.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-0-521-19889-9–isbn978-0-521-14560-2(pbk.)
1.CaribbeanArea–Commerce–History. 2.CaribbeanArea–Economicconditions. I.Title.
hf3312.b85 2012
330.9729–dc23 2011023537
isbn978-0-521-19889-9Hardback
isbn978-0-521-14560-2Paperback
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Contents
ListofFigures pagex
ListofTables xv
Preface xvii
ListofAbbreviations xix
1 Introduction 1
part i. the caribbean in the age of free trade: from the
napoleonic wars to 1900
2 TheCoreandtheCaribbean 21
2.1. GeopoliticsintheCore 23
2.2. GrowthandDevelopmentintheCore 29
2.3. TradeandTariffPolicyintheCore 36
2.4. TheAbolitionoftheSlaveTradeandSlave
Emancipation 41
3 FromScarcetoSurplusLabourintheCaribbean 46
3.1. PopulationChange 47
3.2. SlaveryandtheIllegalTrafficinSlaves 50
3.3. CoercionwithoutSlavery 57
3.4. InwardMigration 62
3.5. SurplusLabour,FreeLabourandWageRates 69
4 GlobalCommodityTradeandItsImplicationsfortheCaribbean 77
4.1. CaribbeanExportsin1820 78
4.2. DemandforandSupplyofLeadingCommodities 83
4.3. MarketAccessintheCore 90
4.4. CommodityPricesandTechnologicalChange 96
vii
viii Contents
5 CaribbeanForeignTrade 104
5.1. TradeStructure 105
5.2. TradePatterns 113
5.3. TheTermsofTrade 119
5.4. DomesticExportsperHead 125
6 TheDomesticEconomyintheCaribbean 133
6.1. GoodsandServicesfortheHomeMarket 134
6.2. Infrastructure 141
6.3. PublicFinance 146
6.4. MacroeconomicPerformance 153
7 Haiti:FromIndependencetoUSOccupation 160
7.1. HaitiandtheCore 163
7.2. TheExportSector 169
7.3. PublicFinance 178
7.4. WhenandWhyDidHaitiFallBehind? 186
part ii. the caribbean in the age of preferences:
from 1900 to 1960
8 TheCoreandtheCaribbean 197
8.1. TheWorldEconomy 198
8.2. TheUnitedStatesandtheCaribbean 205
8.3. TheUKandtheCaribbean 214
8.4. TheRestoftheCoreandtheCaribbean 221
9 CaribbeanForeignTrade 228
9.1. TheCommodityStructureofExports 229
9.2. CountrySharesinDomesticExports 236
9.3. TheTermsofTrade 242
9.4. ExportsandImportsperHead 249
AppendixtoChapter9.ASelectionofNatural
Disasters,1900–1960 255
10 TheCaribbeanDomesticEconomy 257
10.1. NationalIncome 258
10.2. TheStructureofOutputandEmployment 265
10.3. PublicFinance 272
10.4. Migration 279
11 TheRise,DeclineandFalloftheBelizeanEconomy
beforeIndependence 285
11.1. ProsperitywithoutSustainability:FromSettlementto
Colony 287
11.2. ColonialismandEconomicDecline 295
11.3. TheFalloftheBelizeEconomy:1900–1950 302