Events at CERGE-EI
Monday, 2 November, 2026 | 14:15 | Room 402 | Applied Micro Research Seminar
Sascha O. Becker (University of Warwick) "Colonialism Inc. The Private Interests Behind Germany's Imperial Ambitions"
University of Warwick, United Kingdom
Join online
Meeting number: 2740 938 9061
Meeting password: 334521
Authors: Sascha O. Becker, Simon Heß, Nurlan Lalayev and Rajesh Ramachandran
Abstract: How are sudden economic opportunities allocated when existing institutions are not designed to govern access to them? We study the 1908 diamond discovery in German South-West Africa, using newly digitized data on colonial firms linked to German corporations and their directors. Entry was broad: many new firms and actors moved into diamond mining. But investment and survival were concentrated among firms tied to the established corporate elite, which also controlled the mining rights and the diamond sales monopoly. The result is capture at the core: newcomers at the margin, the old elite at the center. The findings suggest that sudden opportunities give rise to new de facto institutions, and that networks determine who gains access to their core and captures the rents.
