IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/corfin/v96y2026ics092911992500152x.html

Quantifying the legacy of trauma: The long-term impact of the African slave trade on contemporary firm corruption

Author

Listed:
  • Liu, Yu
  • Xu, Jian
  • Zhou, Yifan

Abstract

This study examines the long-term impact of the African slave trade on present-day corporate corruption in Africa. Analyzing data from over 30,000 firms across 41 African countries between 2006 and 2021, we find a robust positive relationship between historical slave export and modern firm-level corruption. The results suggest that ethnic fractionalization, diminished trust, and weak institutions are potential channels linking the slave trade to current corruption. In countries with a history of extensive slave export, firms are more likely to engage in tax avoidance, circumvent government interactions, and operate informally due to prevalent corruption.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Yu & Xu, Jian & Zhou, Yifan, 2026. "Quantifying the legacy of trauma: The long-term impact of the African slave trade on contemporary firm corruption," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:96:y:2026:i:c:s092911992500152x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102884
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092911992500152X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2025.102884?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D73 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
    • E26 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Informal Economy; Underground Economy
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance
    • N87 - Economic History - - Micro-Business History - - - Africa; Oceania

    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:eee:corfin:v:96:y:2026:i:c:s092911992500152x. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jcorpfin .

    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.