Colonial trade prompted the colonies to specialise in primary products. Did this eliminate industrialisation opportunities in the colonies, and did it make them more politically dependent on the coloniser? To answer these questions, we examine the impact of the World War I trade shock on industrial growth and support for the anti-colonial movement in India. We find that districts more exposed to a drop in imports experienced faster industrial growth in 1911-21, thereafter remaining on a higher level of industrial employment. All evidence points to an increase in Indian productivities as the reason for this, suggesting that liberal trade policies may not have been optimal for colonial India. We also find that districts which industrialised faster thanks to WWI were more likely to support the Indian National Congress. This is consistent with the view that specialisation in primary products made the colonies more politically dependent on the coloniser

中文翻译：

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贸易扰乱、工业化和英国在印度殖民统治的落日

殖民地贸易促使殖民地专门生产初级产品。这是否消除了殖民地的工业化机会，是否使他们在政治上更加依赖殖民者？为了回答这些问题，我们研究了第一次世界大战贸易冲击对工业增长的影响以及对印度反殖民运动的支持。我们发现，受进口下降影响较大的地区在 1911-21 年经历了较快的工业增长，此后仍保持较高的工业就业水平。所有证据都表明印度生产力的提高是造成这种情况的原因，这表明自由贸易政策对于殖民地印度来说可能并不是最佳选择。我们还发现，由于第一次世界大战而工业化较快的地区更有可能支持印度国大党。