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Legacies of loss : The health outcomes of slaveholder compensation in the British Cape Colony

Martins, Igor LU ; Cilliers, Jeanne LU and Fourie, Johan (2023) In Explorations in Economic History 89.
Abstract
Can wealth shocks have intergenerational health consequences? We use the partial compensation slaveholders received after the 1834 slave emancipation in the British Cape Colony to measure the intergenerational effects of a wealth loss on longevity. We find that a greater loss of slave wealth shortened the lifespans of the generation of slaveholders that experienced the shock albeit these effects are usually small and mostly confined to older cohorts of slaveholders who likely exploited slaves both as labor and capital inputs. The lifespans of those of the second generation who survived infancy were unaffected by the shortfalls and no effects of the shortfall were found for the third generation.
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Intergenerational health, Intergenerational persistence, Wealth shock, Lifespan, Longevity, Slave emancipation, Cape Colony
in
Explorations in Economic History
volume
89
article number
101506
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85146027249
ISSN
0014-4983
DOI
10.1016/j.eeh.2022.101506
project
The establishment, growth and legacy of a settler colony: Quantitative panel studies of the political economy of Cape Colony
The Cape of the Good Hope Panel: Long-term studies of growth, inequality and labour coercion in the global south
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
29323e33-52a1-41e3-9aa7-f9dee5980f26
date added to LUP
2023-01-04 08:57:21
date last changed
2024-08-19 10:55:14
@article{29323e33-52a1-41e3-9aa7-f9dee5980f26,
  abstract     = {{Can wealth shocks have intergenerational health consequences? We use the partial compensation slaveholders received after the 1834 slave emancipation in the British Cape Colony to measure the intergenerational effects of a wealth loss on longevity. We find that a greater loss of slave wealth shortened the lifespans of the generation of slaveholders that experienced the shock albeit these effects are usually small and mostly confined to older cohorts of slaveholders who likely exploited slaves both as labor and capital inputs. The lifespans of those of the second generation who survived infancy were unaffected by the shortfalls and no effects of the shortfall were found for the third generation.}},
  author       = {{Martins, Igor and Cilliers, Jeanne and Fourie, Johan}},
  issn         = {{0014-4983}},
  keywords     = {{Intergenerational health; Intergenerational persistence; Wealth shock; Lifespan; Longevity; Slave emancipation; Cape Colony}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Explorations in Economic History}},
  title        = {{Legacies of loss : The health outcomes of slaveholder compensation in the British Cape Colony}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eeh.2022.101506}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.eeh.2022.101506}},
  volume       = {{89}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}