The Long-Term Effects of Africa's Slave Trades

Nunn, Nathan (2007): The Long-Term Effects of Africa's Slave Trades. Forthcoming in: Quarterly Journal of Economics

Abstract

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 To explore this question, I use data from shipping records and historical documents reporting slave ethnicities to construct estimates of the number of slaves exported from each country during Africa’s slave trades. I find a robust negative relationship between the number of slaves exported from a country and current economic performance. To better understand if the relationship is causal, I examine the historical evidence on selection into the slave trades, and use instrumental variables. Together the evidence suggests that the slave trades have had an adverse effect on economic development.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Institution: University of British Columbia
• Language: English
• Keywords: Africa; Slave trade; Economic development
• Subjects: O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development; F - International Economics > F1 - Trade; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O5 - Economywide Country Studies > O55 - Africa

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