Institutions and economic development on the northern frontier: the economic history of colonialism in Canada

Canada is typically classified as a settler economy, similar to other European offshoots such as the United States and Australia. Development patterns in these economics have been connected to the establishment of inclusive institutions in the colonial period that facilitated the emergence of sustained economic growth. This chapter considers the evidence on institutional frameworks and development trajectories in Canada prior to Confederation in 1867. Canada’s colonial origins were dominated by resource-intensive staple extraction, which delayed the development of institutions supporting permanent settlement. When settlement did take root in New France, seigneurial land tenure was introduced, and the chapter explores whether these potentially coercive arrangements were a drag on development. Finally, the chapter examines how institutions and economic development under colonialism interacted with Canada’s Indigenous populations.