THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE AND MODERN HOUSEHOLD FINANCE

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Levine, Ross; Lin, Chen; Xie, Wensi
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Berkeley; University of Hong Kong; Chinese University of Hong Kong
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1093/ej/ueaa015
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 1817-1841
• 关键词: endowments; origins; LAW; GROWTH; banks; institutions; culture; MARKETS; roots; trust

摘要

We evaluate the impact of the African slave trade between 1400 and 1900 on modern household finance. Exploiting cross-country and cross-ethnic group differences in the intensity with which people were enslaved and exported from Africa, we find that slave exports during the 1400-1900 period are negatively associated with current measures of household (a) access to financial services, (b) access to credit, (c) use of mobile finance and (d) trust in financial institutions, suggesting that the slave trade has had an enduring, deleterious effect on household finance.