562 International Organization Most controversy over colonialism and foreign investment has to do with the so-called economic theory of imperialism.5 The debate seems peculiar to the student of political economy,for it revolves around the simple question of whether economic considerations were important to colonial imperialism or not.As such it is not about an economic theory as normally understood but rather about the relative importance of the totality of economic concerns and the "contending"totality of noneconomic concerns,even though all scholars agree that both were present.This confusion is compounded by all sides in the debate.Supporters of the "economic approach"point to instances in which nationals of a colonial power made money as a result of colonialism,while opponents call upon examples of colonial possessions devoid of economic significance.If the question were whether colonialism was solely and entirely motivated by expectations of direct and measurable economic profits,this might be appropriate;inasmuch as this is manifestly not the question scholars ask,it is not. In general,an economic theory of political behavior tries to correlate different kinds of economic activity with different kinds of policy or political outcomes.For example,some common economic theories of politics hypoth- esize a relationship between firm and industry characteristics on the one hand and levels of support for trade protection,regulatory outcomes,or other government actions on the other.Typically,an economic explanation is not about the relationship between the economy and politics in general but rather about the relationship of a specific economic independent variable to a specific political or policy dependent variable.It is variation in the economic variable that is purported to explain corresponding variation in the political or policy outcome.If so desired,confrontation with noneconomic theories can then be made by seeing whether noneconomic variables outperform economic vari- ables in explaining outcomes;more commonly,scholars accept that economic and noneconomic factors are not mutually exclusive.Int any case,the appropri- ate test of a typical economic theory is not whether or not economic considerations matter,but whether they matter in the ways hypothesized by the theory in question.An economic theory of colonialism,in this context,would correlate particular kinds of economic activities with the likelihood of colonial rule. It is also useful to get a clearer sense than is usually provided in the debate over colonialism of what is being explained by contending theories.Colonial rule is but one possible outcome of relations between and among countries- 6.Influential statements or surveys of the positions at stake include Benjamin J.Cohen,The Question of Imperialism:The Political Economy of Dominance and Dependence (New York:Basic Books,1973);D.K.Fieldhouse,"Imperialism:An Historiographical Revision,"Economic History Review 14 (December 1961);David Landes,"Some Thoughts on the Nature of Economic Imperialism,"Joural of Economic History 21 (December 1961);and Joseph Schumpeter,"The Sociology of Imperialisms,"in Joseph Schumpeter,Imperialism and Social Classes (New York: Augustus Kelley,1951),pp.3-130