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Based on data from several samples of probate inventories we construct and analyze a time series of slave prices for South Carolina from 1722 to 1809. These estimates reveal that prices fluctuated without trend prior to the 1760s and then began to rise rapidly, more than doubling by the early...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012471200
Using data from samples of probate inventories we construct a series of slave prices for Low Country South Carolina and Georgia covering the period 1722-1815. Using these data we examine variations in slave prices by age and sex, as well as geographic variations between and within the two...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012471326
This paper relies on birth and death lists from plantation records to investigate the causes of low birth weight and poor health of young slave children. The sources of deprivation can be traced to the fetal period. The slave work routine was arduous overall and particularily intense during...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012477418
development that is unobserved among poor populations of the twentieth century. Thus slavery may have created an unusual pattern …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012477452
The nullification of slave wealth after the U.S. Civil War (1861-65) was one of the largest episodes of wealth compressions in history. We document that white Southern households holding more slave assets in 1860 lost substantially more wealth by 1870, relative to households that had been...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012479651
This working paper explores the significant contributions to the history of African-American slavery made by the … explicit use of economic theory and quantitative methods. American slavery of the late antebellum period [1840-1860] was one of …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012480849
productive slaves faced more attractive labor market opportunities outside slavery, which elicited greater effort within slavery … in order to buy their way out of slavery. Further, this paper addresses three important and two emergent literatures: the … economics of slavery; the economics of stature; and the economics of complexion. The results reveal that height, complexion, and …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012462948
There is controversy about whether geography matters mainly because of its contemporaneous impact on economic outcomes or because of its interaction with historical events. Looking at terrain ruggedness, we are able to estimate the importance of these two channels. Because rugged terrain hinders...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012463730
We investigate the historical origins of mistrust within Africa. Combining contemporary household survey data with historic data on slave shipments, we show that individuals whose ancestors were heavily raided during the slave trade today exhibit less trust in neighbors, relatives, and their...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012463864
We investigate the determinants of slave family discounts, using data from the New Orleans slave market. We find large price discounts for families which cannot be explained by scale effects, childcare costs, legal restrictions, or transport costs. Because family members cared for each other,...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012464365