Narrow search
Showing 1 - 10 of 366
Cover Image
When the Levee Breaks : Black Migration and Economic Development in the American South
Hornbeck, Richard - 2012
In the American South, post-bellum economic stagnation has been partially attributed to white landowners' access to low-wage black labor; indeed, Southern economic convergence from 1940 to 1970 was associated with substantial black out-migration. This paper examines the impact of the Great...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10013101831
Cover Image
Ruggedness : The Blessing of Bad Geography in Africa
Nunn, Nathan - 2009
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/10013160340
Cover Image
The Social Implications of Sugar : Living Costs, Real Incomes and Inequality in Jamaica C1774
Burnard, Trevor - 2017
This paper provides the first quantitative assessment of Jamaican standards of living and income inequality around 1774. To this purpose we compute welfare ratios for a range of occupations and build a social table. We find that the slave colony had extremely high living costs, which rose...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012946034
Cover Image
The Long-Term Effects of Africa's Slave Trades
Nunn, Nathan - 2010
Can part of Africa's current underdevelopment be explained by its slave trades? To explore this question, I use data from shipping records and historical documents reporting slave ethnicities to construct estimates of the number of slaves exported from each country during Africa's slave trades....
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012759868
Cover Image
Start-Up Nation? Slave Wealth and Entrepreneurship in Civil War Maryland
González, Felipe - 2016
Slave property rights yielded a source of collateral as well as a coerced labor force. Using data from Dun and Bradstreet linked to the 1860 census and slave schedules in Maryland, we find that slaveowners were more likely to start businesses prior to the uncompensated 1864 emancipation, even...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012985586
Cover Image
The Origins of Financial Development : How the African Slave Trade Continues to Influence Modern Finance
Levine, Ross - 2017
We assess how the African slave trade—which had enduring effects on social cohesion—continues to influence financial systems. After showing that the intensity with which people were enslaved and exported from Africa during the 1400 – 1900 period helps account for overall financial...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012948060
Cover Image
Slave Prices in the Lower South, 1722-1815
Mancall, Peter C.; Rosenbloom, Joshua L.; Weiss, Thomas - 2021
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/10013230411
Cover Image
Finding Eldorado : Slavery and Long-Run Development in Colombia
Acemoglu, Daron; García Jimeno, Camilo; Robinson, James A. - 2012
Slavery has been a major institution of labor coercion throughout history. Colonial societies used slavery intensively … across the Americas, and slavery remained prevalent in most countries after independence from the European powers. We … investigate the impact of slavery on long-run development in Colombia. Our identification strategy compares municipalities that …
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10013104727
Cover Image
Land Policy : Founding Choices and Outcomes, 1781-1802
Grubb, Farley - 2010
Victory in the War for Independence brought a vast amount of land within the grasp of the new American nation -- territory stretching from the Appalachian Mountains to the Mississippi River between the southern shores of the Great Lakes and Spanish Florida. These lands were initially claimed by...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10013152595
Cover Image
Coercion, Culture and Debt Contracts : The Henequen Industry in Yucatan, Mexico, 1870-1915
Alston, Lee J. - 2008
While most contemporary historians agree that the use of debt peonage as a coercive labor contract in Mexico was not widespread, scholars still concur that it was important and pervasive in Yucatan state during the henequen boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The henequen boom...
Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012772383