What was the economy like in Colonial New York?

The economy nowadays is extremely diverse and globally interacted with over 150 countries participating in trade and economics. There are hundreds of different little markets within the economy, and usually if one country's economy blunders, then so do the rest. The economy back in the colonial days of the 17th and 18th centuries was vastly different than today. Our only source of importing were the British as we were their colonies. Many people who lived in the colonies, especially New York, were farmers who sold cash crops like tobacco. There wasn't a huge variety of different jobs like there is today. There were no stock exchanges to buy and sell stocks and bonds. There was no United States government to initiate foreign and fiscal policy to fix economic issues. There was no Federal Reserve that conducted monetary policy. More or less, the economy was very simplistic, and not very advanced. There weren't many wealthy people due to taxes and low incomes, and hardly any substantial investment going on during these times. Much different than today.

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