Over what time scale? Measured against what counterfactual? Relative to the option of “everything became frozen in time” colonialism is good (now), but it did really huge amounts of damage in the mean time.
Is this a naive comparison of, say, India an hour before Vasco de Gama landed in 1498 to an hour after the British ceded them independence in 1947? Because most people’s standard of living increased between 1498 and 1947; I don’t think you could say colonialism was responsible for that.
colonialism on average increased the standard of living of those living under colonialist regimes. (80%)
Over what time scale? Measured against what counterfactual? Relative to the option of “everything became frozen in time” colonialism is good (now), but it did really huge amounts of damage in the mean time.
measured against prior to and post-independence of areas subject to colonialism.
Is this a naive comparison of, say, India an hour before Vasco de Gama landed in 1498 to an hour after the British ceded them independence in 1947? Because most people’s standard of living increased between 1498 and 1947; I don’t think you could say colonialism was responsible for that.
background of course adjusts for inflation (average increase in world SoL during the time period)