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  • 2021
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

Fiscal Development under Colonial and Sovereign Rule

By: Ewout Frankema and Marlous van Waijenburg
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
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Abstract

This paper explores differences in the making of a ‘modern’ fiscal state under colonial and sovereign rule. Focusing on African and Asian colonies (1820–1970) and their respective European metropoles, it argues that while the introduction of ‘modern’ taxes was part of an imperial diffusion process of fiscal reforms, these new taxes were embedded in a distinctly colonial political, social, and economic logic. In contrast to the imperial metropoles, where ‘modern’ taxes built on organically grown tax bases, fiscal ‘modernity’ and ‘tradition’ co-existed in a dualistic system in the colonies. The comparison of fiscal development under colonial and sovereign rule helps to move beyond the Eurocentric bias in the historical tax literature and develop a more global theory of fiscal modernization.

Keywords

Economic History; Fiscal Modernization; Colonial Rule; Sovereign Finance; History; Taxation; Africa; Asia

Citation

Frankema, Ewout, and Marlous van Waijenburg. "Fiscal Development under Colonial and Sovereign Rule." Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) Discussion Paper, No. 16176, May 2021.
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About The Author

Marlous van Waijenburg

Business, Government and the International Economy
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    Fiscal Development under Colonial and Sovereign Rule

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    • 2019
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    The Great Convergence: Skill Accumulation and Mass Education in Africa and Asia, 1870-2010

    By: Ewout Frankema and Marlous van Waijenburg
    • 2019
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    From Coast to Hinterland: Fiscal State Formation in British and French West Africa, c. 1880–1960

    By: Ewout Frankema and Marlous van Waijenburg
More from the Authors
  • Fiscal Development under Colonial and Sovereign Rule By: Ewout Frankema and Marlous van Waijenburg
  • The Great Convergence: Skill Accumulation and Mass Education in Africa and Asia, 1870-2010 By: Ewout Frankema and Marlous van Waijenburg
  • From Coast to Hinterland: Fiscal State Formation in British and French West Africa, c. 1880–1960 By: Ewout Frankema and Marlous van Waijenburg
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