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

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: University of California System; University of California Berkeley; University of Illinois System; University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; Columbia University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050717000493
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 373-405
• 关键词: self-employment; liquidity constraints; liquidation values; PROPERTY-RIGHTS; windfall gains; insurance

摘要

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 assess a number of potential explanations, and find suggestive evidence 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.