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Cited by 2,197Culture, Economy, and Development StudiesColonialism, slavery, and tradeExperimental Behavioral Economics Studies

The Slave Trade and the Origins of Mistrust in Africa

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Nunn, Nathan, Wantchekon, Leonard·2011·American Economic Review
DOI 10.1257/aer.101.7.3221
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Abstract

We show that current differences in trust levels within Africa can be traced back to the transatlantic and Indian Ocean slave trades. Combining contemporary individual-level survey data with historical data on slave shipments by ethnic group, we find that individuals whose ancestors were heavily raided during the slave trade are less trusting today. Evidence from a variety of identification strategies suggests that the relationship is causal. Examining causal mechanisms, we show that most of the impact of the slave trade is through factors that are internal to the individual, such as cultural norms, beliefs, and values. (JEL J15, N57, Z13)

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  • Individual-level data from the Afrobarometer surveys demonstrate a 0.55 correlation between the location of respondents in 2005 and their historical ethnic homeland.

    “Reassuringly, individual-level data from the Afrobarometer surveys demonstrate a 0.55 correlation between the location of respondents in 2005 and their historical ethnic homeland ( Nunn and Wantchekon 2011 ) .”

    From Legal Origins and Female HIV (2018) · cites this paper as Nunn and Wantchekon 2011

    Section V (page unavailable) reports a correlation coefficient of 0.74 between geography-based and ethnicity-based slave-export measures. It separately says those measures have the same value for 55 percent of respondents; it does not report a 0.55 correlation between respondents’ 2005 locations and their historical ethnic homelands. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Nunn, N., & Wantchekon, L.
Affiliations
  • Harvard University (US)
  • Department of Politics (joint with Economics), New York University, 19 West Fourth Street, New York, NY 10012.
ORCID
Nunn, Nathan
Venue
American Economic Review
Publisher
American Economic Association
Published
2011-12-01
Volume
101
Issue
7
Pages
3221-3252
ISSN
0002-8282 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1257/aer.101.7.3221
OpenAlex
W2145309110
Cited by
2,197
References
2
Citations by year
2026: 155 · 2025: 221 · 2024: 231 · 2023: 258 · 2022: 181 · 2021: 175 · 2020: 131 · 2019: 137 · 2018: 131 · 2017: 114 · 2016: 106 · 2015: 106 · 2014: 102 · 2013: 60 · 2012: 46
FWCI
211.81
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • American Economic Review (publishedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Demography › Culture, Economy, and Development Studies
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Colonialism, slavery, and trade
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies
Keywords
transatlantic slave trade, Indian Ocean slave trade, trust, intergenerational effects, ethnic groups, cultural norms, historical trauma, Africa

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