IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/124379.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Did Slavery Impede the Growth of American Capitalism? Two Natural Experiments Using Farm Values per Acre

Author

Listed:
  • Francis, Joseph A.

Abstract

Two natural experiments challenge the view that slavery impeded the growth of American capitalism. An event study shows that farm values fell relative to the national average in slave states following abolition. A spatial regression discontinuity design (RDD) then suggests that any negative effects of slavery’s legality on farm values on the free-slave state border were counteracted by the institution’s practical utility. An explanation of these results can also be advanced: slavery provided a relatively cheap agricultural labor force in parts of the South where white Americans preferred not to settle. From this perspective, the growth of American capitalism was promoted rather than impeded by slavery.

Suggested Citation

  • Francis, Joseph A., 2025. "Did Slavery Impede the Growth of American Capitalism? Two Natural Experiments Using Farm Values per Acre," MPRA Paper 124379, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:124379
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/124379/1/MPRA_paper_124379.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/124550/1/MPRA_paper_124550.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/124693/1/MPRA_paper_124693.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elena Esposito, 2022. "The Side Effects of Immunity: Malaria and African Slavery in the United States," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 290-328, July.
    2. Hong, Sok Chul, 2011. "Malaria and Economic Productivity: A Longitudinal Analysis of the American Case," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 71(3), pages 654-671, September.
    3. Olmstead, Alan L. & Rhode, Paul W., 2008. "Biological Innovation and Productivity Growth in the Antebellum Cotton Economy," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 68(4), pages 1123-1171, December.
    4. Hong, Sok Chul, 2007. "The Burden of Early Exposure to Malaria in the United States, 1850–1860: Malnutrition and Immune Disorders," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 67(4), pages 1001-1035, December.
    5. Hoyt Bleakley & Paul Rhode, 2024. "The Economic Effects of American Slavery: Tests at the Border," NBER Working Papers 32640, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Gavin Wright, 2022. "Slavery and the Rise of the Nineteenth-Century American Economy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 36(2), pages 123-148, Spring.
    7. William N. Parker & Judith L. V. Klein, 1966. "Productivity Growth in Grain Production in the United States, 1840–60 and 1900–10," NBER Chapters, in: Output, Employment, and Productivity in the United States after 1800, pages 523-582, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    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. Kitchens, Carl, 2013. "The effects of the Works Progress Administration's anti-malaria programs in Georgia 1932–1947," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 567-581.
    2. Dora L. Costa & Heather DeSomer & Eric Hanss & Christopher Roudiez & Sven E. Wilson & Noelle Yetter, 2017. "Union Army veterans, all grown up," Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(2), pages 79-95, April.
    3. Maurizio Malpede, 2023. "Malaria and economic activity: Evidence from US agriculture," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 105(5), pages 1516-1542, October.
    4. Hong, Sok Chul, 2013. "Malaria: An early indicator of later disease and work level," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 612-632.
    5. Sok Chul Hong, 2011. "Malaria: An Early Indicator of Later Disease and Work Level," Working Papers 1110, Nam Duck-Woo Economic Research Institute, Sogang University (Former Research Institute for Market Economy).
    6. Hong, Sok Chul & Hwang, Inhyuk, 2024. "Race, immunity, and lifespan: Unraveling the effect of early-life exposure to malaria risk on lifespan," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    7. Richard C. Sutch, 2018. "The Economics of African American Slavery: The Cliometrics Debate," NBER Working Papers 25197, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Adhvaryu, Achyuta, 2011. "Learning, Misallocation, and Technology Adoption: Evidence from New Malaria Therapy in Tanzania," Center Discussion Papers 115712, Yale University, Economic Growth Center.
    9. Dillon, Andrew & Friedman, Jed & Serneels, Pieter, 2014. "Health Information, Treatment, and Worker Productivity: Experimental Evidence from Malaria Testing and Treatment among Nigerian Sugarcane Cutters," IZA Discussion Papers 8074, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Francis, Joseph, 2024. "P-Values on the Free-Slave State Border: A Critique of Bleakley and Rhode," MPRA Paper 122197, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Alan L. Olmstead & Paul W. Rhode, 2014. "Were Antebellum Cotton Plantations Factories in the Field?," NBER Chapters, in: Enterprising America: Businesses, Banks, and Credit Markets in Historical Perspective, pages 245-276, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Andrei Markevich & Ekaterina Zhuravskaya, 2018. "The Economic Effects of the Abolition of Serfdom: Evidence from the Russian Empire," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(4-5), pages 1074-1117, April.
    13. Samantha Rawlings, 2012. "Gender, race, and heterogeneous scarring and selection effects of epidemic malaria on human capital," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2012-01, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    14. Adhvaryu, Achyuta, 2011. "Learning, Misallocation, and Technology Adoption: Evidence from New Malaria Therapy in Tanzania," Working Papers 92, Yale University, Department of Economics.
    15. Elena Esposito, 2022. "The Side Effects of Immunity: Malaria and African Slavery in the United States," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 290-328, July.
    16. Bertocchi, Graziella & Dimico, Arcangelo, 2020. "Bitter Sugar: Slavery and the Black Family," GLO Discussion Paper Series 564, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    17. Robert G. Chambers & Simone Pieralli, 2020. "The Sources of Measured US Agricultural Productivity Growth: Weather, Technological Change, and Adaptation," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(4), pages 1198-1226, August.
    18. Cain, Louis & Hong, Sok Chul, 2009. "Survival in 19th century cities: The larger the city, the smaller your chances," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 450-463, October.
    19. Grimm, Michael, 2016. "Rainfall Risk and Fertility: Evidence from Farm Settlements during the American Demographic Transition," IZA Discussion Papers 10351, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    economic history; event study; spatial regression discontinuity design; slavery; United States;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J47 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Coercive Labor Markets
    • N11 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • N21 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • N51 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • O43 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Institutions and Growth

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:pra:mprapa:124379. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    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.