Rationally Coercive Rulers and Reactive Agents: Evidence from Head Tax and Blood Tax Levy in French West Africa

• In Event: Taxation, Coercive Agents, and Political Trust in Africa

Brief Overview

We study the coercive capacity of the French colonial state, as well as manifested resistance from local Africans in former French West Africa, via the two most “coercive” missions at the time: head tax collection and military conscription.

Authors

• Zhexun ZHE Mo, Paris School of Economics

• Denis Cogneau