Publication:
Benefits and Fiscal Costs of Colonialism: American Remittances to Spain, 1760-1814

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ISSN: 0212-6109
ISSN: 2041-3335 (online)
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2020
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Abstract
The essay measures the fiscal costs and benefits of colonialism, both for the Spanish American colonies and for Spain, in the period 1760-1814 using new estimates of the annual transfers from the colonies to the metropolitan treasury. The various components of the fiscal benefits for the metropolis are analyzed, including the huge transfer of silver from colonial treasuries and also the estimated value of the large volume of shipments of tobacco leaf from Cuba to the Spanish tobacco monopoly. It is argued that the American contribution to the ordinary income of the Spanish government increased in absolute and relative terms in the period 1790-1810.
Se intentan medir los beneficios y costes fiscales de la relación entre las colonias americanas y España en el período de 1760 a 1814 a partir de una serie de nuevas estimaciones de los montos anuales de las remesas fiscales americanas. Se discuten los varios componentes de los beneficios fiscales que recibía la tesorería metropolitana, incluyendo las transferencias en metálico y en especie (tabaco de Cuba). Se argumenta que la contribución americana a los ingresos ordinarios metropolitanos aumentó en términos absolutos y relativos entre 1790 y 1810.
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Colonialismo, Beneficios y costes fiscales, América española, España, Colonialism, Fiscal costs and benefits, Spanish America, Spain
Bibliographic citation
Revista de Historia Económica / Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History (Second Series) / Virtual Special Issue / 2020, 30 p.