Citation:
Nunn N. The Long Term Effects of Africa's Slave Trades. Quarterly Journal of Economics. 2008; 123 (1) : 139-176.
2.97 MB | ||
Appendix | 734 KB | |
Summary in Harvard Magazine | 1.43 MB | |
Summary in Boston Globe | 743 KB |
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 To explore this question, I use data from shipping records and historical documents reporting slave ethnicities to construct estimates of the number of slaves exported from each country during Africa’s slave trades.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 had an adverse effect on economic development.