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Trade, the Staple Theory of Growth, and Fluctuations in Colonial S ingapore, 1900–39
Author(s) -
Choy Keen Meng,
Sugimoto Ichiro
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
australian economic history review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.493
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1467-8446
pISSN - 0004-8992
DOI - 10.1111/aehr.12007
Subject(s) - nexus (standard) , economics , colonialism , gross domestic product , product (mathematics) , relevance (law) , international trade , international economics , keynesian economics , economic history , macroeconomics , political science , mathematics , engineering , law , embedded system , geometry
Our paper enquires into the nexus between trade, growth, and fluctuations in the B ritish colony of S ingapore during the early twentieth century. Hitherto, little quantitative economic history has been written on this great entrepôt of S outheast A sia due to a lack of data. We overcome this limitation by utilising the gross domestic product series recently constructed for the pre‐war period by S ugimoto. This comprehensive data set enables us to explore the relevance and applicability of the staple theory of export‐led growth to colonial S ingapore through cliometric analyses. The results suggest that foreign trade had acted both as an engine of growth and a source of economic instability.