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Title: Start-up Nation? Slave Wealth and Entrepreneurship in Civil War Maryland

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2015

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Abstract: Slave property rights yielded a source of collateral as well as a coerced labor force. Using data from Dun and Bradstreet linked to the 1860 census and slave schedules in Maryland, we find that slaveowners were more likely to start businesses prior to the uncompensated 1864 emancipation, even conditional on total wealth and human capital, and this advantage disappears after emancipation. We argue that this is due to the superiority of slave wealth as a source of collateral for credit rather than any advantage in production. The collateral dimension of slave property magnifies its importance to historical American economic development.

Url: http://economics.stanford.edu/files/Naidu_Feb 25.pdf

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Authors: Gonzalez, Felipe; Marshall, Guillermo; Naidu, Suresh

Publisher: UC Berkeley

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Other

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