Joint International Economics - UNU-CRIS Seminar by Ebenezer Sosu, co-authored with Samuel Standaert on The Long Term Effect of Colonization on Trade and Development

^{The Market for Ideas -  Mihai Răzvan NEDELCU}

Despite the formal end of colonial rule, its economic effects continue to shape global economies. This research provides one of the most comprehensive analyses of colonial effect persistence to date, addressing key empirical and methodological gaps in the existing literature. Although existing research (mainly on British and French empires, while treating colonies as homogeneous) suggests that colonial ties foster trade, the sources of this persistence, heterogeneity, and the broader welfare implications of these effects remain unexplored. 

To address these gaps, the study introduces a novel dataset on colonial history, covering 262 countries and territories and dating back to the 14th century, which captures over 440 previously undocumented ties. Using this dataset in conjunction with state-of-the-art gravity estimations—including Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood (PPML) with High-Dimensional Fixed Effects (HDFEs) and Baier and Standaert’s (2024) Bayesian estimator—the research proceeds in four interrelated stages. First, it reexamines colonial trade persistence over time, across colonizers, and across modes of independence. Second, it examines other determinants and dimensions of persistence not addressed in the existing literature. Third, it uncovers the underlying sources of heterogeneity at the colonizer, colonizer–colony, and direction-specific levels, quantifying which colonial relationships were most durable and why. Finally, it integrates trade and development outcomes within a unified general equilibrium framework to assess how colonial legacies continue to influence global welfare.

This is a closed event. For further information, please contact Pascale Vantorre at pvantorre@cris.unu.edu