ABSTRACT
The colonial state in Ghana was neo-mercantilist - in that, it monopolised surplus from peasant production of primary commodities and exported such in concert with foreign big business. In the early years of cocoa production up and including the 1940-1950 period, little food production was lost through export activity. Other than the 1891 - 1911 epoch, the period under examination can be said to be the most significant in Ghana’s economic history in terms of the stratification of the macro economy. Estimating private consumption was not problem - free either. It held major difficulties, as was miscellaneous incomes. Prominent in the figures were the low level of government consumption, signifying a non-active state in development, and the large resource balance accumulated. The labour market statistics of Ghana around 1950 indicated a 200,000 waged population out of a working population of 2.4 million. Ghana’s independence on 6 March 1957 dawned at a time of high political expectations.
