In Chapter 1, we propose a theory to explain the poor performance of Jamaica relative
to the other former British West Indian sugar colonies in the post-emancipation
period (post 1834). Using empirical data from the colonial Blue Books, Parliamentary
Papers and other sources, we perform an interrupted time series analysis and show that
the intervention in 1866, which saw the abolishing of the Planters’ Assembly, and its replacement
with Crown Colony rule, led to significantly higher levels of public investment
on the island. Using sugar’s share of exports as a proxy for the strength/presence of the
plantation economy, we identify and quantify the role of the plantation interest in manipulating
public investment and show that this was motivated by a desire to influence
wages.
In Chapter 2, we propose an institutional and colonial origins approach to explaining the
social and economic divergence among the former British West Indian sugar colonies.
Specifically, we focus on the contrasting economic development among the five main
sugar colonies, Antigua, Barbados, Saint Kitts, Guyana and Jamaica. We hypothesise
that where colonial population density was high, labour supply was plentiful and West
Indian planters received adequate labour for their plantations without the need for highly
repressive institutions. This led to better institutions, lower levels of conflict, and a
higher level of social cohesion which, we argue, facilitated better economic performance.
In Chapter 3 we survey the literature concerning government intervention in the African
peasant sector, paying special attention to policies concerned with labour supply during
the colonial period. The survey covers several African colonies and works by various
scholars.
The analysis in Chpater 4 uses colonial population density, labour institutions flexibility
(the average (2008-2016) ‘Flexibility’ score from the Global Competitiveness Index),
and a measure of labour conflict (per capita number of days lost due to strikes and
lockouts, averaged over the first twenty years of each country’s independence) to test
the relationship between historical labour availability, labour conflict and the quality
of labour institutions today. We find a persistent and significant positive relationship
between the quality of labour institutions and colonial labour availability, and a negative
relationship between conflict and the quality of institutions in 53 former tropical colonies.
