Attached Once, Attached Forever: The Persistent Effects of Concertaje in Ecuador

This paper studies the long-run intergenerational effects of concertaje, a widespread forced labor system in the Americas from the Spanish colonial era that coerced indigenous workers in rural estates (haciendas) after causing them to become indebted. We collected and digitized the universe of historical individual-level tax records (1800) in what is today Ecuador and connected them to likely descendants using the universe of contemporary (2010s) tax returns and census registries via surnames. We find that descendants from concertaje earn 16 percent less formal labor income vis-Ã -vis descendants from uncoerced indigenous workers. Because of the distortions created by the institution, descendants from concertaje are less educated, more likely to work in agriculture and the informal sector, and less prone to migrate. However, the effects of concertaje on immigrants are milder, suggesting migration acted as a mitigation channel.