IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/socsci/v103y2022i7p1706-1718.html

Double take: Abolition and the size of transferred property rights

Author

Listed:
  • Jenny Bourne

Abstract

Objective Abolition is sometimes portrayed as a taking of property rights from former masters. If we consider freedom as the baseline, slavery could instead represent a taking of property rights from slaves. To gauge pecuniary losses to slaves, I estimate foregone wages to former U.S. slaves alive at the time of emancipation. Method I use slave hire rates and values from colonial times to the 1860s to calculate lost compensation to former slaves. Results Estimated pecuniary losses to former slaves at the time of their emancipation are nearly $7 billion in 1860 dollars, or about $200 billion in today's dollars. Conclusions Today's calls for reparations to U.S. blacks appeal to a sense of justice but encounter legal problems because potential plaintiffs cannot show direct harm from slavery. Former slaves, however, arguably possessed legal standing at the time of emancipation to request reimbursement for past wages. Because our nation failed to compensate newly freed persons for lost wages, they and their descendants have suffered a financial disadvantage for generations.

Suggested Citation

  • Jenny Bourne, 2022. "Double take: Abolition and the size of transferred property rights," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 103(7), pages 1706-1718, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:103:y:2022:i:7:p:1706-1718
    DOI: 10.1111/ssqu.13226
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.13226
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ssqu.13226?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Vegard Skirbekk, 2004. "Age and Individual Productivity: A Literature Survey," Vienna Yearbook of Population Research, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, vol. 2(1), pages 133-154.
    2. Starobin, Robert S., 1970. "The Economics of Industrial Slavery In the Old South," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(2), pages 131-174, July.
    3. James D. Hamilton & Ethan S. Harris & Jan Hatzius & Kenneth D. West, 2016. "The Equilibrium Real Funds Rate: Past, Present, and Future," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 64(4), pages 660-707, November.
    4. Pritchett, Jonathan B., 2001. "Quantitative Estimates Of The United States Interregional Slave Trade, 1820–1860," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 61(2), pages 467-475, June.
    5. Charles W. Calomiris & Jonathan Pritchett, 2016. "Betting on Secession: Quantifying Political Events Surrounding Slavery and the Civil War," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(1), pages 1-23, January.
    6. Browne, Robert S, 1972. "The Economic Case for Reparations to Black America," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(2), pages 39-46, May.
    7. Jim Marketti, 1972. "Black equity in the slave industry," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 43-66, March.
    8. Kotlikoff, Laurence J, 1979. "The Structure of Slave Prices in New Orleans, 1804 to 1862," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 17(4), pages 496-518, October.
    9. Thomas Craemer, 2015. "Estimating Slavery Reparations: Present Value Comparisons of Historical Multigenerational Reparations Policies," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 96(2), pages 639-655, June.
    10. Galenson, David W., 1984. "The Rise and Fall of Indentured Servitude in the Americas: An Economic Analysis," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(1), pages 1-26, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Richard C. Sutch, 2018. "The Economics of African American Slavery: The Cliometrics Debate," NBER Working Papers 25197, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Conor Lennon, 2016. "Slave Escape, Prices, and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(3), pages 669-695.
    3. Serguei Kaniovski & Thomas Url & Helmut Hofer & Viola Garstenauer, 2021. "A Long-run Macroeconomic Model of the Austrian Economy (A-LMM 2.0). New Results (2021)," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 67377.
    4. Narayanan, Rajesh P. & Pritchett, Jonathan, 2025. "The paradox of slave collateral," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    5. Bose, Pinaki & Compton, Ryan A. & Basu, Arnab K., 2020. "Paying for freedom: Indentured labour and strategic default," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 502-511.
    6. González, Felipe & Marshall, Guillermo & Naidu, Suresh, 2017. "Start-up Nation? Slave Wealth and Entrepreneurship in Civil War Maryland," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 77(2), pages 373-405, June.
    7. Victor Bystrov, 2018. "Measuring the Natural Rates of Interest in Germany and Italy," Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, vol. 10(4), pages 333-353, December.
    8. repec:rim:rimwps:18-29 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Bruder, Jana & Frosch, Katharina, 2006. "Foreign nationality and age: A double drawback for reemployment in Germany?," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 63, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics.
    10. Alex Coad, 2018. "Firm age: a survey," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 13-43, January.
    11. Börsch-Supan, Axel & Weiss, Matthias, 2016. "Productivity and age: Evidence from work teams at the assembly line," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 7(C), pages 30-42.
    12. Marius ACATRINEI & Dan ARMEANU & Carmen Elena DOBROTA, 2018. "Natural Interest Rate for the Romanian Economy," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(3), pages 104-116, September.
    13. Milad Nozari, 2021. "Information content of the risk-free rate for the pricing kernel bound," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(4), pages 267-276, July.
    14. Gillian Hamilton, 1999. "The Decline of Apprenticeship in North America: Evidence from Montreal," Working Papers hamiltng-99-01, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    15. 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.
    16. Maciej Stefański, 2023. "Natural Rate of Interest in a Small Open Economy with Application to CEE Countries," KAE Working Papers 2023-093, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of Economic Analysis.
    17. Lucidi, Francesco Simone & Semmler, Willi, 2023. "Long-run scarring effects of meltdowns in a small-scale nonlinear quadratic model," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    18. Christopher Gust & Benjamin K. Johannsen & J. David López-Salido, 2017. "Monetary Policy, Incomplete Information, and the Zero Lower Bound," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 65(1), pages 37-70, April.
    19. Jing, Zhongying & Li, Zheng, 2024. "The effect of population ageing on technological innovation in emerging market countries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    20. Vilmi, Lauri, 2017. "Two tales of the natural rate of interest," BoF Economics Review 1/2017, Bank of Finland.
    21. Mikael Juselius & Claudio Borio & Piti Disyatat & Mathias Drehmann, 2017. "Monetary Policy, the Financial Cycle, and Ultra-Low Interest Rates," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 13(3), pages 55-89, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:103:y:2022:i:7:p:1706-1718. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0038-4941 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.