raori921 OP t1_ize79jn wrote on December 8, 2022 at 1:37 PM

Reply to comment by Swanky_Molerat in Why is the Spanish colonial empire often said/implied to be "less focused on trade" or "not prioritising trade" compared to other empires like the Dutch, British, Portuguese etc.? by raori921

Now I wonder if this low priority on trade has not had adverse consequences for the modern Philippines after independence from Spain, though the American colonial period after 1898 is another complicating factor.

Wonder if it could ever be said with any certainty that the under-focus on trade by the Spanish colonisers has in any way (direct or not) resulted in why even recently, the Philippine economy has historically had trouble growing fast or sustaining growth anytime it does grow fast, unlike more successful East Asian (and even some Southeast Asian) economies.

Swanky_Molerat t1_izebotw wrote on December 8, 2022 at 2:13 PM

>Now I wonder if this low priority on trade has not had adverse consequences for the modern Philippines after independence from Spain

The Dutch profited immensely from intra-Indonesian trade conducted by native Indonesians. Perhaps the Spanish were less opportunistic and more restrictive and controlling.

But it is always difficult if not impossible to draw proper causal inferences from such observations.

In any case, internal trade is likely to have had a more lasting impact than the regular but sporadic galleon trade.

elmonoenano t1_izfclgm wrote on December 8, 2022 at 6:21 PM

It's important to remember that trade in the Philippines wasn't focused on the Philippines. It was focused on China, so the Spanish had no incentive to encourage any kind of economic development there. If anything it would have made their conflict with the Moros on the southern islands more difficult. The world economy had changed enough by the time of the US colonization that you do get some forms of plantation development and a more serious interest in political administration of the Philippines, but whereas the Spanish mostly neglected the country, the US was highly extractive.