The banana monopoly disguised Italian aid as trade profits
Evidence
By 1955, although still hedged about with tariff restrictions and judged by some economists5 to be operating uneconomically, banana exports had risen to over 50,000 tons annually – almost five times the figure achieved in 1937. This monopolistic trade now occupied a crucial position not only in relation to its direct trade return, but also since it was indirectly a principal source of Italian grants-in-aid to Somalia. The industry’s control by the Italian state not only ensured a steady and uncompetitive market in Italy – which on the long term might retard its potential growth – but also provided in its profits from the sale of bananas at high and uncompetitive prices to Italian wholesalers a source of revenue applied to make grants to Somalia. This was an arrangement which, though possibly ultimately detrimental to the development of Somalia’s banana export industry, satisfied for the time being many different interests. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 384
Categorization
- SEED: The economics of disguised aid via monopolistic trade is a reusable lens for colonial/postcolonial economic dependency.
- XREF: connects to: Market ideology conceals exploitation by making exchange stand in for production
Related
Broader Connections
- Market ideology conceals exploitation by making exchange stand in for production
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