Economic History of French Canadians

The economic history of French-Canadians stands in contrast with that of other groups in North America. As a distinct ethno-linguistic group residing predominantly in the province of Quebec, Canada, the French-Canadians have long been poorer than most of North America (rivaling only African-Americans in terms of absolute living standards). (Throughout this chapter, I will speak of French-Canadians and Quebec interchangeably unless I specifically refer to non-Quebec Francophones). However, in global terms, they have always been exceptionally rich: richer than their French counterparts as early as the colonial era, richer than most of Europe, and richer than most of Latin America. As such, they are the poorest of the very rich. These different gaps offer the chance to cliometricians to use the French-Canadians as an isolating variable to test the importance of contending explanations regarding the origins of development. This is in large part because they were poorer than their immediate geographic neighbors with whom they shared significant environmental endowments (especially when compared with the differences in endowments with populations elsewhere in the Americas that were poorer than them). As such, the French-Canadian are an open invitation for the study of institution in determining the origins of economic divergence (at least within the Americas).