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The Market for Indentured Immigrants: Evidence on the Efficiency of Forward-Labor Contracting in Philadelphia, 1745–1773

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  • Grubb, Farley

Abstract

Indentured servitude is modeled as a trans-Atlantic market in forward-labor contracts. The model is applied to servant-auction evidence in Philadelphia, and the determinants of contract prices are used to test the efficient-market hypothesis. While competing for servants in Europe, most of the expected price differences across servants were lost through arbitrage by recruiters.

Suggested Citation

  • Grubb, Farley, 1985. "The Market for Indentured Immigrants: Evidence on the Efficiency of Forward-Labor Contracting in Philadelphia, 1745–1773," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(4), pages 855-868, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:45:y:1985:i:04:p:855-868_03
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Michael Baker & Gillian Hamilton, 1999. "French/English Differences in Labour Market Compensation in 19th Century Montreal," Working Papers baker-99-02, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    2. NAKABAYASHI, Masaki, 2014. "From the Substance to the Shadow: The Court Embedded into Japanese Labor Markets," ISS Discussion Paper Series (series F) f168, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo, revised 28 Mar 2014.
    3. Bruno Gabriel Witzel de Souza, 2024. "‘The same contract that is suitable for your Excellency’: Immigration and emulation in the adoption of sharecropping‐cum‐debt arrangements in Brazil (1835‒80)," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 77(2), pages 612-643, May.
    4. Ran Abramitzky & Leah Boustan, 2017. "Immigration in American Economic History," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1311-1345, December.
    5. Kauffman, Kyle D. & Cribari-Neto, Francisco, 1995. "To pay or not to pay: Positive incentives as a calibrating device in the white indenture system," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 257-269.
    6. NAKABAYASHI, Masaki, 2009. "Poaching, Courts, and Settlements:Complementarity of Governance in Labor Markets," ISS Discussion Paper Series (series F) f145, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo, revised 01 Mar 2012.
    7. Abramitzky, Ran & Braggion, Fabio, 2006. "Migration and Human Capital: Self-Selection of Indentured Servants to the Americas," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 66(4), pages 882-905, December.
    8. Gillian Hamilton, 1999. "The Decline of Apprenticeship in North America: Evidence from Montreal," Working Papers hamiltng-99-01, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    9. Grubb, Farley, 2000. "The Statutory Regulation of Colonial Servitude: An Incomplete-Contract Approach," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 42-75, January.
    10. Baker, Michael & Hamilton, Gillian, 2000. "Écarts salariaux entre francophones et anglophones à Montréal au 19e siècle," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 76(1), pages 75-111, mars.
    11. Lopamudra Banerjee, 2021. "Natural hazard, employment uncertainty, and the choice of labor contracts," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 47(2), pages 227-252, April.
    12. Masaki Nakabayashi, 2018. "From the substance to the shadow: the role of the court in Japanese labour markets," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 71(1), pages 267-289, February.
    13. Geloso, Vincent & Kufenko, Vadim & Arsenault-Morin, Alex P., 2023. "The lesser shades of labor coercion: The impact of seigneurial tenure in nineteenth-century Quebec," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    14. Farley Grubb, 2003. "Babes in Bondage Parental Selling of Children to Finance Family Migration: The Case of German Migration to North America, 1720-1820," Working Papers 03-04, University of Delaware, Department of Economics.
    15. Gupta, Bishnupriya & Swamy, Anand V., 2017. "Reputational Consequences of Labor Coercion: Evidence from Assam's Tea Plantations," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 431-439.
    16. Farley Grubb, 2001. "The Market Evaluation of Criminality: Evidence from the Auction of British Convict Labor in America, 1767-1775," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(1), pages 295-304, March.
    17. Stanley L. Engerman & Robert A. Margo, 2010. "Free Labor and Slave Labor," NBER Chapters, in: Founding Choices: American Economic Policy in the 1790s, pages 291-314, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Peter Thompson, 2003. "Technological Change and the Age-Earnings Profile: Evidence from the International Merchant Marine, 1861-1912," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 6(3), pages 578-601, July.

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