Expropriation with partial compensation: Slave-owner reparations and intergenerational outcomes

The School of Economic and Business Sciences (SEBS) will host Professor Johan Fourie from Stellenbosch University to present this lecture.

Can wealth shocks have intergenerational health consequences? In this talk, Fourie will use the partial compensation slave owners received after the 1834 slave emancipation in the British Cape Colony to measure the intergenerational effects of a wealth loss on longevity. Because the share of partial compensation received was uncorrelated to wealth, we can interpret the results as having a causal influence. We find that a greater loss of slave wealth had a negative effect on the longevity of both the generation of slave owners that experienced the shock and their children, but not for grandchildren. We speculate on the mechanisms for this intergenerational persistence.

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