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Title: The Economic Effects of American Slavery, Redux: Tests at the Border
Citation Type: Working Paper
Publication Year: 2021
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Abstract: During their grand tour of the United States in 1831-32, Alexis de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont puzzled on divergent regional economic development, until they traveled down the Ohio River. There, they observed differences on opposite riverbanks, where the environment is similar but the institutions differ. Following their analysis, we use antebellum census data to test for statistical differences at the 1860 free-slave border. We find evidence of lower population density, less intensive land use, and lower land values on the slave side. This does not support the view that abolition was a costly constraint for landowners. Indeed, the lower demand for similar, yet cheaper, land presents a different puzzle: why wouldn't the yeomen farmers cross the border to fill up empty land in slave states, as was happening in the free states of the Old Northwest? On this point, we find evidence of higher wages on the slave side, indicating an aversion of free labor to working in a slave society. This evidence of lower systemic productivity in slave areas suggests that the earlier literature on the profitability of plantations was misplaced, or at least incomplete.
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Authors: Bleakley, Hoyt; W. Rhode, Paul
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Institution: University of Michigan
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Data Collections: IPUMS USA - Ancestry Full Count Data
Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Land Use/Urban Organization, Population Data Science
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