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Slavery, Statehood and Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Bezemer, Dirk

    (Faculty of Economics, Groeningen University)

  • Bolt, Jutta

    (Faculty of Economics, Groeningen University)

  • Lenzink, Robert

    (Faculty of Economics, Groeningen University)

Abstract

This paper addresses the long-term impact of Sub-Saharan Africa’s indigenous systems of slavery on its political and economic development, based on an analytical survey of the literature and data collected from anthropological records. We develop a theory to account for this based on the framework proposed by North et al. (2009), where indigenous slavery may have impeded the transition from a ‘limited access state’ centred around personal relations to an ‘open access state’ based on impersonal rule of law and widely shared access to public and private organisations. In a quantitative analysis we find that indigenous slavery is robustly and negatively associated with the quality of governance and with current income levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Bezemer, Dirk & Bolt, Jutta & Lenzink, Robert, 2012. "Slavery, Statehood and Economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa," African Economic History Working Paper 6/2012, African Economic History Network.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:afekhi:2012_006
    as

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Africa; Slavery; States; colonialism; economic development;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N17 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Africa; Oceania
    • N27 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - Africa; Oceania
    • N37 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Africa; Oceania
    • N47 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Africa; Oceania
    • N57 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - Africa; Oceania

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