Benefits and Fiscal Costs of Colonialism: American Remittances to Spain, 1760-1814

The essay measures the fiscal costs and benefits of colonialism, both for the Spanish American colonies and for Spain, in the period 1760-1814 using new estimates of the annual transfers from the colonies to the metropolitan treasury. The various components of the fiscal benefits for the metropolis are analyzed, including the huge transfer of silver from colonial treasuries and also the estimated value of the large volume of shipments of tobacco leaf from Cuba to the Spanish tobacco monopoly. It is argued that the American contribution to the ordinary income of the Spanish government increased in absolute and relative terms in the period 1790-1810.