DP15431 Measuring Colonial Extraction: The East India Company's Rule and the Drain of Wealth (1757-1858)
Author(s): | Pilar Nogues-Marco |
Publication Date: | November 2020 |
Keyword(s): | Colonialism, drain of wealth, East India Company, India, Marxism |
JEL(s): | B14, F54, N45 |
Programme Areas: | Economic History |
Link to this Page: | cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=15431 |
This paper revisits the relationship between capitalism and colonialism by examining the case of British India under East India Company rule (1757-1858). The Marxist-nationalist historiography claims that colonialism generated a steady drain of wealth and that this drain was responsible for Indian famines, poverty, inequality, and economic retardation. I use the East India Company budgets to measure the extent of the wealth that was drained through three direct channels: oppressive land taxes, unproductive expenditures on the imperial army and civil administration, and the unrequited export of commodities from India to Britain. I conclude that available figures lend empirical support to the Marxist interpretation. There was a drain of wealth, and its effect on the underdevelopment of former European colonies deserves further research.