Practice question · Multiple choice
If imperialism were driven by surplus capital seeking outlets, British investment should have flowed into newly annexed tropical colonies. It went mostly to the United States, Canada, Australia and Argentina. What follows?
Hints
- Ask what the theory predicts and then look at where the money went.
- A theory can be influential, and believed by policymakers, and still be wrong about the mechanism.
Show the answer
D. Hobson’s predicted mechanism made claims that the actual capital flows contradict
Why
The test is a fair one because Hobson made a claim about flows, not merely about motives. Capital went where railways were being built under reliable law, which was mostly outside the new tropical empire. That contemporaries believed the theory still matters, belief shaped policy, but belief is not the mechanism the theory proposed.
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