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

Igor Martins, Jeanne Cilliers and Johan Fourie

Explorations in Economic History, 2023, vol. 89, issue C

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.

Keywords: Intergenerational health; Intergenerational persistence; Wealth shock; Lifespan; Longevity; Slave emancipation; Cape Colony (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D6 I19 J47 N37 N47 N97 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:exehis:v:89:y:2023:i:c:s0014498322000778

DOI: 10.1016/j.eeh.2022.101506

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