Staples thesis

Last updated November 16, 2023

In economic development, the staples thesis is a theory of export-led growth. The theory "has its origins in research into Canadian social, political, and economic history carried out in Canadian universities...by members of what were then known as departments of political economy." From these groups of researchers, "the two most prominent scholars following this approach were Harold Innis and W.A. Mackintosh."^[1]

Thesis

The thesis explains Canadian economic development as a lateral, east-west conception of trade. Innis argued that Canada developed as it did because of the nature of its staple commodities: raw materials, such as fish, fur, lumber, agricultural products and minerals, that were exported to Britain and the West Indies. This trading link cemented Canada's cultural links to Britain. The search for and exploitation of these staples led to the creation of institutions that defined the political culture of the nation and its regions.

Innis argues that different staples led to the emergence of regional economies (and societies) within Canada. For instance, the staple commodity in Atlantic Canada was cod. This industry was very decentralized, but also very co-operative. In western Canada the central staple was wheat. Wheat farming was a very independent venture, which led to a history of distrust of government and corporations in that part of the country. (Also important, however, were the shocks caused by volatility in the market for wheat and by the weather itself on the growing season.) In Central Canada, the main staple was fur, and the fur trade dominated the economy for many years. This fur trade was controlled by large firms, such as the Hudson's Bay Company and thus produced the much more centralized, business-oriented society that today characterizes Montreal and Toronto.

Innis depicted the relationship between regions of Canada as one of "heartland" to "hinterland": The periphery, or hinterland, is dominated by the core, or heartland. Because the heartland was dependent upon the search for and accumulation of staples (which were located in the hinterland) to perpetuate the economy, it sought to gain economic and political power by exploiting the hinterland.^[2]

To Innis, it was the fur trade that created the geographical boundaries of Canada. The early links between the Canadian interior and eastern ports led to Canadian unity and its distinctiveness from the United States. However, the importance of fur as a staple product also resulted in the northern half of the continent remaining dependent on Britain for trade and thus essentially British for so much of its history.

Influence and criticism

Mel Watkins revived the theory during the 1960s and 1970s through his work on resource capitalism and Canadian political economy.^[3] While the staples thesis originally described the evolution of the Canadian state, it has since been used to study the economies of many nations that are dependent upon resource extraction and primary industries.

The staples thesis states that export of raw materials can sustain economic growth, while its critics argue that reliance on commodity export should not delay the development of basic manufacturing and provision of services. Among his strongest critics was Robin Neill who advocated a post-Innisian thesis, explaining the economic development of Canada as an expression of variegated regions (population density, cultural politics, geographic characteristics) and of their particular north-south relationships with the United States.^[4]

Historians continue to use elements of the Innis Core-periphery model, applying it for example to British Columbia. That province's economic structure exemplifies the "core-periphery" structure of intra-regional relationships. The core is metropolitan Vancouver, with its concentration of corporate management and transportation functions and manufacturing growth. It dominates an underdeveloped periphery that depends on production and export of staple commodities.^[5]

Related Research Articles

Harold Adams Innis was a Canadian professor of political economy at the University of Toronto and the author of seminal works on media, communication theory, and Canadian economic history. He helped develop the staples thesis, which holds that Canada's culture, political history, and economy have been decisively influenced by the exploitation and export of a series of "staples" such as fur, fish, lumber, wheat, mined metals, and coal. The staple thesis dominated economic history in Canada from the 1930s to 1960s, and continues to be a fundamental part of the Canadian political economic tradition.

The historical school of economics was an approach to academic economics and to public administration that emerged in the 19th century in Germany, and held sway there until well into the 20th century. The professors involved compiled massive economic histories of Germany and Europe. Numerous Americans were their students. The school was opposed by theoretical economists. Prominent leaders included Gustav von Schmoller (1838–1917), and Max Weber (1864–1920) in Germany, and Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950) in Austria and the United States.

In economics, the Prebisch–Singer hypothesis argues that the price of primary commodities declines relative to the price of manufactured goods over the long term, which causes the terms of trade of primary-product-based economies to deteriorate. As of 2013, recent statistical studies have given support for the idea. The idea was developed by Raúl Prebisch and Hans Singer in the late 1940s; since that time, it has served as a major pillar of dependency theory and policies such as import substitution industrialization (ISI).

The Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty of 1854, also known as the Elgin–Marcy Treaty, was a treaty between the United Kingdom and the United States that applied to British North America, including the Province of Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland Colony. The treaty covered raw materials; in effect from 1854 to 1866, it represented a move toward free trade and was opposed by protectionist elements in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economic history of Canada</span> Aspect of history

Canadian historians until the 1960s tended to focus on the history of Canada's economy because of the far fewer political, economic, religious and military conflicts present in Canadian history than in other societies. Many of the most prominent English Canadian historians from this period were economic historians, such as Harold Innis, Donald Creighton and Arthur R. M. Lower.

Dependency theory is the idea that resources flow from a "periphery" of poor and underdeveloped states to a "core" of wealthy states, enriching the latter at the expense of the former. A central contention of dependency theory is that poor states are impoverished and rich ones enriched by the way poor states are integrated into the "world system". This theory was officially developed in the late 1960s following World War II, as scholars searched for the root issue in the lack of development in Latin America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Underdevelopment</span>

Underdevelopment, in the context of international development, reflects a broad condition or phenomena defined and critiqued by theorists in fields such as economics, development studies, and postcolonial studies. Used primarily to distinguish states along benchmarks concerning human development—such as macro-economic growth, health, education, and standards of living—an "underdeveloped" state is framed as the antithesis of a "developed", modern, or industrialized state. Popularized, dominant images of underdeveloped states include those that have less stable economies, less democratic political regimes, greater poverty, malnutrition, and poorer public health and education systems.

Melville Henry Watkins was a Canadian political economist and activist and professor emeritus of economics and political science at the University of Toronto. He was a founder and co-leader with James Laxer of the Waffle, a left-wing political formation within the New Democratic Party that advocated an "independent socialist Canada" and Canadian nationalism. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2019.

World-systems theory is a multidisciplinary approach to world history and social change which emphasizes the world-system as the primary unit of social analysis.

William Archibald Mackintosh, was a Canadian economist and political scientist, and was the twelfth principal of Queen's University from 1951 until 1961. He is best known for developing the staple thesis that explains Canadian economic history in terms of a series of exports of staple products – fish, fur, timber, and wheat.

The metropolitan-hinterland thesis theory of social and economic development, developed by the Canadian historian Harold Innis examines how economically advanced societies, through trade and colonialism, distort and impede economic development of less developed societies and regions.

Robin F. Neill (1931–2014) was a Canadian economic historian who was a longstanding professor at Carleton University in Ottawa then, latterly, at the University of Prince Edward Island.

The Fur Trade in Canada: An Introduction to Canadian Economic History is a book written by Harold Innis covering the fur trade era in Canada from the early 16th century to the 1920s. First published in 1930, it comprehensively documents the history of fur trading while extending Innis's analysis of the economic and social implications of Canada's reliance on staple products. The book focuses on the far-reaching effects of new techniques and technologies in the contact between European and Indigenous civilizations and shows how co-operation and rivalries among French, English and Indigenous peoples shaped the history of the northern half of North America. Finally, the book tries to show how Canada emerged as a nation with boundaries largely determined by the fur trade. Canada, Innis argues, "emerged not in spite of geography, but because of it."

<i>The Cod Fisheries: The History of an International Economy</i> Published 1940

The Cod Fisheries: The History of an International Economy is a 1940 book by Harold Innis.

Harold Adams Innis was a professor of political economy at the University of Toronto and the author of seminal works on Canadian economic history and on media and communication theory. He helped develop the staples thesis, which holds that Canada's culture, political history and economy have been decisively influenced by the exploitation and export of a series of staples such as fur, fish, wood, wheat, mined metals and fossil fuels. Innis's communications writings explore the role of media in shaping the culture and development of civilizations. He argued, for example, that a balance between oral and written forms of communication contributed to the flourishing of Greek civilization in the 5th century BC. But he warned that Western civilization is now imperiled by powerful, advertising-driven media obsessed by "present-mindedness" and the "continuous, systematic, ruthless destruction of elements of permanence essential to cultural activity."

In world-systems theory, the semi-periphery countries are the industrializing, mostly capitalist countries which are positioned between the periphery and core countries. Semi-periphery countries have organizational characteristics of both core countries and periphery countries and are often geographically located between core and peripheral regions as well as between two or more competing core regions. Semi-periphery regions play a major role in mediating economic, political, and social activities that link core and peripheral areas.

Daniel Drache is a scholar in Canadian and international political economy, globalization studies, communication studies, and cultural studies. He is recognized as having made important contributions to comparative and interdisciplinary debates on policy, globalization, border security, and the impact of new information and communication technologies on political mobilization and citizenship. He is also known for his critique of market fundamentalism. In Canada he is also credited with reviving the work of foundational political economist Harold Innis within the academy. Drache is a professor emeritus political science and senior research scholar of the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies at York University in Toronto, Canada.

Upper Canada had few exports with which to pay for its imported manufactured needs. For those who settled in rural areas, debt could be paid off only through the sale of wheat and flour. However, for much of the 1820s, the price of wheat went through cycles of boom and bust depending upon the British markets that ultimately provided the credit upon which the farmer lived.

The historiography of Canada deals with the manner in which historians have depicted, analyzed, and debated the history of Canada. It also covers the popular memory of critical historical events, ideas and leaders, as well as the depiction of those events in museums, monuments, reenactments, pageants and historic sites.

Harry Clare Pentland was a Canadian economic historian. Pentland studied labour and economic history. He served as president of the Manitoba Historical Society from 1963 to 1965. In 1970, the MHS awarded him a Manitoba Centennial Medal. His papers are held at the University of Manitoba. Archives.

References

↑ Ramesh, Michael Howlett; Alex Netherton; M. (1999). The political economy of Canada : an introduction (2. ed.). Don Mills, Ontario [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-19-541348-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
↑ "Staples Theory" in Old Messengers, New Media: The Legacy of Innis and McLuhan, from Library and Archives Canada
↑ See for example, Mel Watkins (1967) "A Staples Theory of Economic Growth," In Easterbrook and Watkins (Eds.), Approaches to Canadian Economic History. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.
↑ Neill, Robin (1991). "The Staple Thesis". A History of Canadian Economic Thought . Routledge History of Economic Thought Series. London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780203167953. ISBN 978-0-415-05412-6.
↑ Thomas A. Hutton, "The Innisian core-periphery revisited: Vancouver's changing relationships with British Columbia's staple economy." BC Studies: The British Columbian Quarterly 113 (1997): 69-100. online

Staples thesis

Contents

Thesis

Influence and criticism

See also

Related Research Articles

References

Further reading