| 21. |
- Rönnbäck, Klas, 1974
(författare)
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Balancing the Baltic trade: colonial commodities in the trade on the Baltic , 1773-1856
- 2010
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Economic History Review. - 0358-5522. ; 58:3, s. 188-202
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper attempts to look at the connection between the Atlantic and the Baltic economies during the transition from early modern to the modern era. Previous research has seriously underestimated the importance of colonial commodities traded on the Baltic during this period. Colonial commodities, particularly from the American plantation complex, became ever more important for the Western European balance of payments on the Baltic. Already by the late 18th century, these commodities were on aggregate worth approximately as much as the exports of strategic commodities such as grains or iron from the Baltic at the same time. By the middle of the 19th century, the value of colonial commodities imported to the region far surpassed the value of such key exports from the Baltic. The colonial commodities thus constituted an important part of the balance of payments for the trade on the Baltic.
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| 22. |
- Rönnbäck, Klas, 1974, et al.
(författare)
-
Capital and Colonialism: The Return on British Investments in Africa 1869-1969
- 2019
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Bok (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This book engages in the long-standing debate on the relationship between capitalism and colonialism. Specifically, Rönnbäck and Broberg study the interaction between imperialist policies, colonial institutions and financial markets. Their primary method of analysis is examining micro- and macro-level data relating to a large sample of ventures operating in Africa and traded on the London Stock Exchange between 1869 and 1969. Their study shows that the relationship between capital and colonialism was highly complex. While return from investing in African colonies on average was not extraordinary, there were certainly many occasions when investors enjoyed high return due to various forms of exploitation. While there were actors with rational calculations and deliberate strategies, there was also an important element of chance in determining the return on investment – not least in the mining sector, which overall was the most important business for investment in African ventures during this period. This book finally also demonstrates that the different paths of decolonization in Africa had very diverse effects for investors.
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| 23. |
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| 24. |
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| 25. |
- Rönnbäck, Klas, 1974
(författare)
-
Climate, conflicts and variations in prices on pre-colonial West African markets for staple crops
- 2014
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Ingår i: Economic history review. - : Wiley. - 0013-0117. ; 67:4, s. 1065-1088
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Very little is known about the dynamics of pre-colonial markets in Africa. In this paper, a new set of data-series on the pre-colonial price of staple crops on the Gold Coast is presented. Six hypotheses on the behavior of market prices, found in the previous literature, are tested in the paper. The results show conclusively that the market prices did respond to shifts in demand and supply, for example from climate-induced scarcity, or to external shocks such as war. It is argued that the markets studied seem to have been remarkably well-functioning, given the socio-economic and political context they were operating in.
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| 26. |
- Rönnbäck, Klas, 1974
(författare)
-
Climate, conflicts and variations in prices on pre-colonial West African markets for staple crops
- 2013
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Ingår i: Svenska Ekonomisk-Historiska Mötet 2013, Lund 4-5 Oktober 2013.
-
Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Very little is known about the dynamics of pre-colonial markets in Africa. In this paper, a new set of data-series on the pre-colonial price of staple crops on the Gold Coast is presented. Six hypotheses on the behavior of market prices, found in the previous literature, are tested in the paper. The results show conclusively that the market prices did respond to shifts in demand and supply, for example from climate-induced scarcity, or to external shocks such as war. It is argued that the markets studied seem to have been remarkably well-functioning, given the socio-economic and political context they were operating in.
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| 27. |
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| 28. |
- Rönnbäck, Klas, 1974
(författare)
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Commerce and Colonisation: Studies of Early Modern Merchant Capitalism in the Atlantic Economy
- 2009
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation consists of four chapters which study early modern merchant capitalism, with a special focus upon the developing Atlantic economy. The introductory chapter is followed by chapter 2, studying the issue of market integration and price convergence in inter-continental trade during the early modern period. Previously, scholars have claimed that there is no evidence of price convergence prior to the 1820s. This chapter on the contrary finds that there is ample evidence of this for most of the commodities studied. The issue of an early modern globalisation can thus not be dismissed as easily as it often has been done previously. Chapter 3 studies the profits to be made from colonialism for various agents in Europe. Previous research on Britain has shown that while individual merchants and planters might have gained from colonialism, the British state and consumers had to pay much of the bill. The chapter contrasts previous studies by looking at the Danish colonies in the West Indies. The conclusion is that, in contrast to the British case, the, all Danish agents were able to profit from colonialism in the West Indies. The Danish case might thus put the British experience into perspective. Chapter 4 focuses upon the balance of payments for trade on the Baltic. Common know-ledge has it that key Baltic exports largely were paid for in bullion during the early modern period. The importance of colonial goods have however been underestimated in previous research. By the late 18th century, the chapter finds, just the sugar re-exported from Western Europe to the Baltic was worth approximately half of the value of grains exported in the opposite direction. The chapter concludes that re-exports of colonial goods increasingly contributed positively to the balance of payments for the Western European nations’ trade on the Baltic. Chapter 5, finally, studies the trade in colonial goods on the Baltic from the perspective of environmental economic history. The Baltic was for a long period of time a net exporter of acreage, in the form of bulk commodities such as grains and forestry products. The chapter shows that increasing imports of colonial commodities required an growing amount of overseas ghost acreage. The trade, this chapter concludes, might however be understood less by an American abundance of land, than through the low price of enslaved labour in the Americas.
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| 29. |
- Rönnbäck, Klas, 1974
(författare)
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Consumers and slavery: diversified markets for plantation produce and the survival of slavery in the 19th century
- 2011
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Ingår i: Fernand Braudel Center Review. - 0147-9032. ; 33:1, s. 69-88
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Market demand for plantation produce was crucial for the survival of American slavery in the 19th century. De-colonisation opened up for increasingly complex geographical patterns of trade for the American producers of these crops. This paper estimates quantitatively the ‘materialized labour’ necessary for the consumption of these goods, in order to show the impact of developing markets upon the institution of slavery. The paper finds that the production of goods for semiperipheral markets in Europe, such as the Baltic, required the labour of some 200,000 slaves annually by the middle of the 19th century.
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| 30. |
- Rönnbäck, Klas, 1974, et al.
(författare)
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Cotton cultivation under colonial rule in India in the nineteenth century from a comparative perspective
- 2022
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Ingår i: Economic history review. - : Wiley. - 0013-0117 .- 1468-0289. ; 75:2, s. 374-395
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- India has played an important role in recent debates on the development of agriculture during colonial rule, and on the performance of US cotton plantations during the nineteenth century. The debates suffer from a lack of quantitative evidence on the productivity of Indian cotton cultivation. In this article, we examine levels of land and labour productivity in cotton cultivation in nineteenth-century India, and compare this data with corresponding productivity figures from the US. Average yields in India were much lower than previous research would suggest, and trends were generally stagnant or even negative. The difference between the cost of labour in India and the US was also lower than previous research would suggest.
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