Long-Term Effects of a Commodity Boom: Rubber Slavery in the Amazon

Daniel Araujo, Humberto Laudares, Dafne Murillo, Hector Paredes and Felipe Valencia Caicedo

No 14374, IDB Publications (Working Papers) from Inter-American Development Bank

Abstract: Can a brief period of economic prosperity leave a legacy of long-term adversity for local populations? This study investigates the enduring impact of the Amazon rubber boom around 1900 on contemporary income, inequality, Indigenous groups presence, and forest conservation. Identification exploits variation in historical rubber suitability across municipalities and discontinuities around rubber concession boundaries. Municipalities with larger shares of rubber-suitable land experienced an initial economic surge, as evidenced by higher per capita GDP in the 1920 Census, but this prosperity was not sustained by 2010. Increased ethnic mixing, already visible in the 1872 Census, indicates that earlier economic expansion intensified contact with Indigenous groups. In the long run, rubber-suitable areas show lower population density, higher extinction of Indigenous groups, and greater income inequality. Consistent with the disproportionate violence and labor coercion inflicted on Indigenous groups, our Regression Discontinuity analysis further documents long-lasting environmental effects, with higher rates of deforestation, coca cultivation, and cattle raising in former rubber concession areas. Together, the results suggest that while the rubber boom generated short-term wealth, it left a legacy of persistent underdevelopment, social transformation, and environmental degradation.

Keywords: Commodity Exploitation; Rubber; Amazon; indigenous peoples; Forced Labor; Persistence; Private Concessions; Economic history (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 J15 N36 N56 O13 O15 Q33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-env, nep-his and nep-lab
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:idb:brikps:14374

DOI: 10.18235/0013815

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