as discussed

Nunn, N. (2008). The Long Term Effects of Africa's Slave Trades. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 123(1), 139-176. Introduction: Nunn’s article begins by stating the need for the research. He states that parts of Africa have continuously faced economic underdevelopment (a trend that still continues to this day). This economic underdevelopment has typically been attributed to Africa’s colonialist past (especially European colonialism) and Africa’s many waves of slave trading. Citing a lack of empirical analysis on the latter topic, Nunn proceeds with the thesis of his paper: African countries more affected by the slave trades are more likely to face current economic underdevelopment and stagnation. Nunn recognized that this negative relationship between countries most affected by slave trade and current GDP may not have a causal connection. For this reason, he goes on to rule out any other intervening variables that could serve as a better explanation. One of the main possibilities of an alternative casual explanation is that the countries most affected were countries that were already struggling (before 1400 A.D.) To rule out this rival hypothesis, Nunn consulted two different sources of information: (1) African Historical experts on why certain areas were selected over others to be involved in the slave trades, and (2) historic population data for various African countries. Both seem to disprove the rival hypothesis because data shows that the areas most affected by the slave trades are the areas that were the most developed previously. Historical Background: The African Slave Trades lasted for about half of a millennium (1400-1900 approximately) and essentially cut the population of Africa in half. There were four main waves of slave trading focusing on different regions at different times, but the most recognized is known as the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. (Slaves shipped from West/West Central Africa to Europe and the Americas)

· The three other waves include: the trans-Saharan slave trade, the Red Sea slave trade, and the Indian Ocean slave trade.

· The African slave trades are the most massive in history with approximately 12 million people exported in just the trans-Atlantic trade (6 million in the 3 others combined) (figures not including those who died in raids or travel).

· Another reason that Nunn stated for the uniqueness of these trades is that this was the first time that certain ethnicities began to enslave their own people.

· Nunn stated that this is a direct cause of increased “social and ethnic fragmentation” that weakened states and pre-trade institutions. (This also highly contributed to rampant amoral familism and the destruction of the African tribal system (C.f. George Ayittey))

· The slave trades caused much infighting between different African groups. This lead to a further deterioration of prior social, political, and judicial institutions. Corruption grew uncontrollably.

Slave Export Data:

· Nunn states that his mode of measurement for this study is the number of slaves taken from each country during the years 1400-1900.

· To obtain the total number of slaves exported from Africa, Nunn used shipping data from 34,584 voyages from 1514-1866 as well as other databases that have been extensively compiled over several years.

· In order to locate where the slaves originated from in Africa, Nunn looked at data that reported their ethnic identities. (Data from “records of sale, slave registers, slave runaway notices, court records, church records, and notarial documents.”)

· Nunn then created an algorithm to try and accurately show (as much as humanly possible) in which region each slave originated.

Basic Correlations: OLS Estimates

· This section is very math intensive, but basically Nunn runs several linear regression models showing that there is indeed a relationship between countries with a history of high slave trade and low GDP (2000 was the year used). He uses the same methods to show how other rival hypotheses are not adequate in addressing causality.

Conclusions:

· The African slave trade is a significant contribution to current economic underdevelopment in the region. Ethnic fractionalization and the destruction of institutions are byproducts that continue to manifest themselves in modern day Africa. Data (qualitative and quantitative) also shows that more affected areas were previously more developed. The slave trade definitely contributed to stunted growth.