Mel Watkins and the continuing evolution of staples theory

Abstract

Mel Watkins re-applied the “staples theory” of Canadian economic history, originally proposed by economic historians including Harold Innis in the 1930s, within the increasingly radical discourse of Canadian political economy in the 1960s and 1970s. In so doing, he helped start a new intellectual and political tradition: the “New Canadian Political Economy.” Watkins’ analysis of staples industries remains relevant and influential today, in part because of his willingness to adapt and extend that analysis to reflect evolving economic, political, and ecological realities.

Keywords:

• Economic nationalism
• Mel Watkins
• resource dependence
• staples theory

Notes

Acknowledgements

The author thanks David Wolfe, Mathieu Dufour, Wallace Clement, and Frances Abele for helpful input.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Clement, “Mel Watkins and the New Canadian Political Economy.”

2 Watkins, “A Staple Theory.”

3 That department would later be split into separate departments of Economics and Political Science—stranding Watkins in an Economics faculty increasingly dominated by orthodox neoclassical thinkers.

4 Innis, Fur Trade in Canada, and Innis, Problems of Staple Production.

5 Grant stresses the often-overlooked role of W.A. Mackintosh in that earlier work, and his influence on Watkins’ own thinking. See Grant, “Who’s Your (Grand) Daddy?”

6 Most consumer spending in this framework depends on income through a consumption multiplier.

7 Hirschman, The Strategy of Economic Development.

8 Kari Levitt’s work was important in applying Canadian staples theory to the situation of developing countries, in her case starting with Caribbean nations. See Best and Polanyi Levitt, Essays on the Theory of Plantation Economy. Gago also discusses the continuing influence of Watkins’ early work on critical and structuralist political-economy in Latin America and other developing countries. See Gago, “The Staples Trap in Developing Countries.”

9 An account of some of those early activist initiatives is provided by Godfrey and Watkins, From Gordon to Watkins to You.

10 Watkins, Foreign Ownership and the Structure of Canadian Industry.

11 The report was largely ignored by the Liberal federal government at the time.

12 New Democratic Party, “The Waffle Manifesto.”

13 A comprehensive compendium of Watkins’ work in this area is provided by Grant and Wolfe, Staples and Beyond.

14 Mel Watkins, “The Staple Theory Revisited.”

15 Naylor, The History of Canadian Business, and Levitt, Silent Surrender.

16 See Berger, Report of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry, and Watkins, Dene Nation.

17 Watkins, “Politics in the Time and Space of Globalization,” 3.

18 See, for example, Watkins, “Staples Redux.”

19 For example, Williams, “On Determining Canada’s Location.”

20 For example, Klassen, “Canada and the New Imperialism,” and Radhika Desai, “The Myth of Progressive Canada.”

21 See, for example, Panitch, “Dependency and Class,” or Paul Kellogg, Escape from the Staple Trap.

22 For example, Sharma, “Immigrant and Migrant Workers in Canada.”

23 See, for example, Clarke et al., Bitumen Cliff, Laxer, After the Sands, and Haley, “From Staples Trap to Carbon Trap.”

24 See, for example, the collected essays in Howlett and Brownsey, “Special Issue on Canada’s Staples Industries?” and Stanford, The Staple Theory @ 50. In 2009, to recognize their contributions to understanding staples dependence and foreign economic domination, Watkins and Kari Levitt were jointly awarded the inaugural Galbraith Prize honouring lifetime contribution by Canadian progressive economists, by the Progressive Economics Forum; see Lee, Unconventional Wisdom.

25 Watkins, “Bitumen as a Staple.”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jim Stanford

Jim Stanford is Economist and Director, Centre for Future Work, and Harold Innis Industry Professor of Economics at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.