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The Origins of Financial Development: How the African Slave Trade Continues to Influence Modern Finance

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Listed:
  • Ross Levine
  • Chen Lin
  • Wensi Xie

Abstract

We assess how the African slave trade—which had enduring effects on social cohesion—continues to influence financial systems. After showing that the intensity with which people were enslaved and exported from Africa during the 1400 – 1900 period helps account for overall financial development, household access to credit, and firm access to finance, we evaluate three potential mechanisms linking the slave trade to modern finance—information sharing institutions, trust in financial institutions, and the quality of legal institutions. We discover that the slave trade is strongly, negatively related to the information sharing and trust mechanisms but not to the legal mechanism.

Suggested Citation

  • Ross Levine & Chen Lin & Wensi Xie, 2017. "The Origins of Financial Development: How the African Slave Trade Continues to Influence Modern Finance," NBER Working Papers 23800, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23800
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    2. Adjisse, Sossou Simplice, 2022. "The Legacy of the Transatlantic and Indian Ocean Slave Trades on Contemporary Intent to Migrate in Africa," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322512, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Johan Fourie & Nonso Obikili, 2019. "Decolonizing with data: The cliometric turn in African economic history," Working Papers 02/2019, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    4. Mohamed Samy ElDeeb & Yasser Tawfik Halim & Esmat Mostafa Kamel, 2021. "The pillars determining financial inclusion among SMEs in Egypt: service awareness, access and usage metrics and macroeconomic policies," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-19, December.
    5. D'Acunto, Francesco & Xie, Jin & Yao, Jiaquan, 2022. "Trust and contracts: Empirical evidence," LawFin Working Paper Series 32, Goethe University, Center for Advanced Studies on the Foundations of Law and Finance (LawFin).
    6. Ze Chen & Yuan Wang & Yanjun Guan & Michael Jie Guo & Rong Xu, 2023. "Long‐term effect of childhood pandemic experience on medical major choice: Evidence from the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak in China," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(5), pages 1120-1147, May.
    7. Chris Doucouliagos & Jakob de Haan & Jan-Egbert Sturm, 2022. "What drives financial development? A Meta-regression analysis [A new database of financial reforms]," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 74(3), pages 840-868.
    8. Florian LEON, 2018. "The Credit Structure Database," DEM Discussion Paper Series 18-07, Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg.
    9. An, Jiafu & Hou, Wenxuan & Liu, Xianda, 2022. "Historical Determinants of Fintech Development: Evidence from Initial Coin Offerings," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PB).
    10. Stelios Michalopoulos & Elias Papaioannou, 2020. "Historical Legacies and African Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 58(1), pages 53-128, March.
    11. Francesco D'Acunto & Jin Xie & Jiaquan Yao, 2020. "Trust and Contracts: Empirical Evidence," CESifo Working Paper Series 8714, CESifo.
    12. Jiaman Xu & Jiandong Chen & Mengfei Jiang & Jiafu An, 2024. "Inherited trust and informal finance," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1-2), pages 334-362, January.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • N27 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - Africa; Oceania
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa

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