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Trader Selectivity and Measured Catch-Up Growth of American Slaves

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2016

Richard H. Steckel  and
Nicolas Ziebarth
Richard H. Steckel
Affiliation:
Richard H. Steckel is Professor of Economics, The Ohio State University, 1945 N. High St., Columbus, Ohio 43210. E-mail: Steckel.1@osu.edu.
Nicolas Ziebarth
Affiliation:
Nicolas Ziebarth is Assistant Professor, University of Iowa – Economics, W344 PBB 21 E. Market St., Iowa City, Iowa 52245. E-mail: nicolas-ziebarth@uiowa.edu.
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Abstract

Critics who doubt the sources and meaning of some four inches of catch-up growth claim that market-based distortions created by slave traders biased measured heights of children and adolescents. Here we analyze this possible bias using a new database of all slave manifests available at the National Archives. Employing procedures to match names of shippers with known or suspected professional traders, we find that biases in height by age due to trader selectivity were negligible relative to the four inches of catch-up growth.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 76 , Issue 1 , March 2016 , pp. 109 - 138
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 2016 

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