Economists don’t agree about the economics of dictatorships: some claim that the lack of checks on the executive and the widespread repression of political voice provide an institutional framework encouraging rent-seeking and stifling growth, whereas others think that it is precisely the lack of political accountability to the electorate that allows for economic policies that make technical sense and are conducive to growth but would not attain political consensus. Economic historians, whose job description allows them to focus on cases rather than on general rules, can point to examples supporting both theses (or neither). ... Read more

Emiliano Travieso is a PhD student in economic history at King’s College, Cambridge. He works on the economic history of the River Plate in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, focusing on natural resources, agriculture and energy. Tom Westland is a PhD student in economic history at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. His current work centres on the French colonial world, and in particular Senegal in the colonial and post-independence periods, with an emphasis on trade, structural change and industrialisation. ... Read more