Absell, Christopher DavidTena Junguito, AntonioUniversidad Carlos III de Madrid. Instituto Figuerola de Historia y Ciencias Sociales2015-05-122015-05-122015-05-012341-2542https://hdl.handle.net/10016/20698The objective of this paper is to reappraise both the accuracy of the official export statistics and the conventional narrative of Brazilian export growth during the period immediately following independence. We undertake an accuracy test of the official values of Brazilian export statistics and find evidence of considerable under-valuation. Once corrected, during the postindependence decades (1821-1849) Brazil's current exports represented a larger share of its economy and its constant growth is found to be more dynamic than any other period of the nineteenth century. We posit that this dynamism was related to an exogenous institutional shock in the form of British West Indies slave emancipation that afforded Brazil a competitive advantage.application/pdfengAtribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 EspañaBraziltrade accuracyexport growthAmerican tropical exportsNineteenth centuryworking paperF14N76DT/0000001368wp15-03