French Colonialism in North Africa: Preliminary Results of the Afristory project Denis Cogneau (PSE-IRD) with Hédi Brahimi (PSE) Work in progress Please do not quote

From colonial to present Preemptive colonization in Africa end-19th century (competition between European nations)  Little ‘development’, or capitalist exploitation  Minimal administration + economic extraction  Legacy of ‘gatekeeper states’ today (Cooper) However settlement colonies were different  More capital, more wage labor, larger States  Racial separatism more salient / violent  ‘Enclave’ economy  What was left when settlers were ousted?

Questions Comparing Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco also Indochina, AOF, AEF, Madagascar Algeria : colony governed by settlers, at least after 1870 or 1900 Tunisia & Morocco: protectorates  metropolitan govt had more say Others: non-settler 1) How the size of the State varied across colonies? 2) Was there ‘development’ outside of the ‘settler enclave’ and in which dimensions? 3) Political economy: Who paid? / Who benefitted?  Incidence analysis of taxation and expenditures + international transfers

Missing data Very few works in quantitative economic history of colonized areas in Africa or Asia, and even fewer of the comparative kind British Empire: Davis & Huttenback (1986) for , Booth (2007) for E/SE Asia French North Africa: - Nouschi (1961) on Constantine area Amin (1966) on economic accounts of colonization and decolonization (Maghreb) - Marseille (1984) on the costs-benefits of Empire

« Afristory » project (1st part) Exhaustive Pub. Fin. data for the 19th c. French Empire: Algeria (1830), Indochina (1871, GG: 1899), Tunisia (1881), Madagascar (1898), Western Africa (1865, GG: 1905), Equatorial Africa (1899, GG: 1910), Morocco (1913), Togo & Cameroon (1920) Federal governments, territories, provinces, municipalities + Metropolitan ministerial budgets + Appendix budgets for public loans + Data on population, health, schooling, production… *: Dates of first budget, not necesarily for the whole territory, due to the conquest. GG: date of « General Government » first budget. Syria-Lebannon ( ) is still to be included.

Top-incomes in former colonies with Alvaredo, Atkinson and Piketty Income tax was introduced in British and French colonies after WW1  Measurement of inequality at the top -Alvaredo & Atkinson (2011) on South Africa -Atkinson (2013) on other British colonies of Africa -Alvaredo, Cogneau & Piketty (ongoing) on French colonies (Algeria, Tunisia, Indochina, Cameroon)

Caution Data are difficult: Demography Prices and incomes Changes in administrative layers Categorization of expenditure & revenue …

A few preliminary results 1.Colonial State not too different in size in Algeria compared to Tunisia, Morocco lagging 2. Development outcomes not too ≠ either, as of 1937 or Income level and income inequality - Health and infrastructure 3. However higher dualism in Algeria? Repression of indigenous education, visible after WW2 (see also Kateb 2004, Sraieb 1993)

French Empire: Population 1936 Syria-Lebanon and earlier colonies (West Indies, Indian Ocean, Pacific) not included Metropolis: 41,905,968. Total French Empire: 64,412,646.

Europeans and French (1936)

Wage levels

Size of the colonial State (1)

Size of the colonial state (2): Share of State expenditures in GDP

Enclave State?

Top-income shares 1955 Caution: preliminary estimates, subject to changes Tunisie: 1) Europeans made 80% of top 1%, 0.1% or 0.01% 2) Around 20% Europeans (resp. 1.2% Tunisians) paid the tax 3) Top 0.1%: 50% of Europeans are salaried, 25% of Tunisians 4) More equal distributions within groups: Top 1% around 7%

Infrastructure

Health

Education

Political economy of public finance: more questions than answers Enclave economy The scale of the State expanded with the size of settler economy -After WW1, European settlers most likely paid a large share of direct and indirect taxes collected on trade, urban sector, or high incomes (e.g. Nicolaï 1962 on Tunisia) -Also first beneficiaries from the bulk of public expenditures Yet the exact balance is difficult to compute… -(Non-indemnized expropriation at independence: extent?) Metropolitan taxpayer: subsidiziation of the enclave economy? -Trade deficits w.r.t. metropolis (also rest of the world), with exceptions in 1930s, and especially in 1950s (Marseille 1984) -Partly compensated by budget surpluses until 1950s -End-of-period public loans and private capital losses? -Paid for military expenditures (Bobrie 1976 for )

Trade and Public Finance

Thank you شكرا Merci 谢谢