From Free-trade Imperialism to Structural Power: New Zealand and the Capital Market, 1856-68

For Cain and Hopkins, the 'structural power' of gentlemanly capitalism was the most important means by which by British imperialism affected settler societies from the mid-nineteenth century. Like similar borrowers, self-governing colonies encountered this most directly by their participat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of imperial and Commonwealth history 2007-12, Vol.35 (4), p.505-527
Main Author: Attard, Bernard
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Access to credit
Capital market
Capitalism
Economic history
Free trade
Imperialism
New Zealand
Power relations
Structural analysis
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Summary:For Cain and Hopkins, the 'structural power' of gentlemanly capitalism was the most important means by which by British imperialism affected settler societies from the mid-nineteenth century. Like similar borrowers, self-governing colonies encountered this most directly by their participation in the London capital market. The potential consequences were illustrated by the failure of New Zealand's provinces to meet the market's standard of credit-worthiness during the early 1860s. At the same time as imperial supervision of provincial borrowing fell away, the Stock Exchange's refusal to list provincial loans made them unmarketable in the City, swiftly leading to the provinces' disappearance as separate borrowers in London. The episode vividly demonstrated gentlemanly capitalism's ability to define the 'rules of the game' as far as dependent borrowers were concerned. More fundamentally, however, the market was asserting the minimum requirements of credit-worthiness necessary for its own survival.
ISSN:0308-6534
1743-9329
DOI:10.1080/03086530701667468