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At the turn of the nineteenth century, what share of overall Venezuelan local income ultimately ended up supporting the Spanish Crown, as opposed to staying within the colony?

The term "income" can be ambiguous. I'm trying to calculate the crown's effective "take" from the total colonial economic product. This involves considering not just official treasury flows but also the value of trade advantages and the cost of enforced monopolies. I'm looking for a holistic assessment of the economic support provided by the colony to the metropole.

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By Heena Answered 1 year ago

Focusing solely on treasury remittances understates the total support. From an economic history perspective, you must add the value extracted through trade imbalances (buying cheap Venezuelan cacao and selling dear Spanish manufactures) and the repressed local industry due to mercantilist laws. When these are factored in, studies suggest the total effective "take" by the crown and its allied merchant class could approach or even exceed the value of one-third of the colony's measurable economic surplus. This immense share stifled local capital formation, making the colony a fiscal engine for Madrid until the system ruptured.

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