are essentially static, whereas economic growth is a dynamic process, involving both
capital accumulation and technological change.
While any rigorous assessment of the impact of trade on economic growth
requires specifying a theoretical model, be it static or dynamic, many traditional
economic historians have preferred to give qualitative accounts emphasising the impact
of trade on particular regions or sectors. In the case of 18th century France, for example,
Butel and Crouzet (1998) have depicted imperial expansion in (and thus trade with)
America and Asia as a non-negligible contribution to growth, that was however
concentrated both by region -- in the Atlantic ports (Bordeaux, Nantes, Le Havre) and
their immediate hinterlands -- and by sector. Colonies represented a significant market
for French industry, since they accounted for 45% of the total increase in manufactured
exports during the 18th century. While such figures should be tempered by the fact that
on the eve of the French Revolution exports only represented 7% of industrial output, and
colonial exports even less (only 2.5%), the impact of these exports was concentrated in a
few sectors (linen especially), implying proportionately greater effects there. Similarly,
around 15% of Portuguese linen output was exported to Brazil in the early 19th century
(Pedreira 1993). Butel and Crouzet also stress the feedbacks from colonial trade to non-
exporting industries, including sugar refining, shipbuilding and its ancillary activities, as
well as to the shipping industry, since transportation was on French ships.
In the case of Spain, trade with America increased between 1714 and 1796,
especially during the late 18th century, promoting monetisation and market orientation at
a time of growing population pressure and rising land rents. Trade stimulated industry
and services, in particular shipbuilding and its associated activities (iron, timber and
cordage industries). Exports to the colonies benefited some industries and regions, but
the small share of industrial goods and commercial services supplied to Latin America by
Iberian firms and merchants before the break up of their empires stands in contrast to the
linkages forged between the British economy and her overseas territories and markets.
Monetisation, the commercialisation of agriculture and the stimulus of particular
industries, such as the iron industry, are also seen as major benefits of foreign trade in
Russia during this period (Kahan 1985).
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