The British balance of payments, 1772-1820: India transfers and war finance.

The article suggests that Great Britain's financing of land warfare during the French wars could have been compromised without the accumulated credits from India transfers since 1757. It shows that limited information on trade and transfers can be reconciled with independent benchmarks on Britain's external position in 1770, 1775, 1800, and 1815. The two weaker benchmarks place Britain's net credits at £ 10 million in 1800 and at £ 30 million in 1815. From a wider range of conceivable scenarios, it remains apparent that the massive expenses abroad during the French wars required substantial improvement, at one time or another, in other components of the balance of payments. A British net credit well in excess of £ 10 million by 1800 has some support in contemporary literature; but the room for accommodation in the new estimates for 1772-1800 would not suffice to bridge the gap with the sounder benchmark for Britain's foreign debt in 1775. Potentially substantial credits include wealthy immigrants' transfers and net income and capital inflows from the British West Indies.