Colonialism Inc.: The Private Interests Behind Germany's Imperial Ambitions

Abstract:

We examine the corporate networks behind German colonialism. To do so, we digitize two complementary firm-level datasets on German corporations (domestic firms) and German colonial firms. We identify connections between German domestic and colonial firms through shared ownership and board memberships. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we analyze how the loss of colonies after World War I affected domestic firm performance.

Authors:

Sascha O. Becker, Simon Heß, Nurlan Lalayev, Rajesh Ramachandran