Welcome, friends, to another edition of Economic Update, a weekly program devoted to the economic

dimensions of our lives and those of our children. I'm your host, Richard Wolfe.

Today we do part two of a two-part series called The Economics of Colonialism, or if you like,

capitalism and colonialism. It's because of the interest in the subject of colonialism,

and even more, the fact that most of us

understand it's far from consigned to the past, it's all around us as we live our lives today.

Last week's program was devoted more to the past, when colonialism was called colonialism, and when the

capitalist form of colonialism, the one we've seen over the last three or four centuries,

was in a position of being formally recognized for what it was, a group mostly of European countries that expanded

with capitalism from their origins in whatever part of Europe they existed, through the growth

built into capitalism.

You might even call it the urge, the impetus, the built-in need to grow,

that Europeans went abroad and established empires, owning, grabbing, controlling,

administering, using far-flung territories in a kind of race, if you might call it,

to take over the whole world. And in those days, the normal way this was done, the usual way,

was to literally establish a colony, usually beginning by military incursion,

killing local people, moving them, forcing them away, and establishing either your own

dominance with military troops and an administration, or settling your own people.

These were called settler colonies, sort of like the United States, for example.

But there are many other examples, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and many more.

And in those days, again, it was formally recognized, mother company, excuse me, mother

country, and colonies.

...