Institutions and economic development on the northern frontier: the economic history of colonialism in Canada

Minns, Chris ORCID: 0000-0003-1685-7757 (2025) Institutions and economic development on the northern frontier: the economic history of colonialism in Canada. In: Frankema, Ewout and Roy, Tirthankar, (eds.) Handbook of the Economic History of Colonialism. Routledge. (In Press)

Text (19. Minns - Canada - 23_06_2025) - Accepted Version Pending embargo until 1 January 2100. Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (737kB)

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Abstract

Canada is typically classified as a settler economy, similar to other European offshoots such as the United States and Australia. Development patterns in these economics have been connected to the establishment of inclusive institutions in the colonial period that facilitated the emergence of sustained economic growth. This chapter considers the evidence on institutional frameworks and development trajectories in Canada prior to Confederation in 1867. Canada’s colonial origins were dominated by resource-intensive staple extraction, which delayed the development of institutions supporting permanent settlement. When settlement did take root in New France, seigneurial land tenure was introduced, and the chapter explores whether these potentially coercive arrangements were a drag on development. Finally, the chapter examines how institutions and economic development under colonialism interacted with Canada’s Indigenous populations.

Item Type:	Book Section
Divisions:	Economic History
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions F History United States, Canada, Latin America > F1001 Canada (General)
JEL classification:	N - Economic History > N0 - General > N01 - Development of the Discipline: Historiographical; Sources and Methods N - Economic History > N1 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Growth and Fluctuations > N11 - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913 O - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O10 - General O - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth > O4 - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity > O40 - General
Date Deposited:	24 Nov 2025 14:48
Last Modified:	11 Dec 2025 04:45
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/130300

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