Decolonisation-era nationalisations were rare in aggregate yet disproportionate in political impact.

Evidence

Although less than 5 per cent of foreign-owned firms were nationalised at the high-point of decolonisation, some high-profile cases sent shock-waves through business circles, especially in the mineral and petroleum industries, and galvanised opposition to self-determination. Mises singled out the Egyptian nationalisation of the Suez Canal two years earlier, in 1956, as the turning point. — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 290

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to reader’s interest in market ethics debate — the empirical gap between actual nationalisation scale and perceived threat echoes how perception drove neoliberal counter-mobilisation.