TY - JOUR
T1 - The promise of freedom
T2 - Fertility decisions and the escape from slavery
AU - Allen, Treb
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
PY - 2015/5/1
Y1 - 2015/5/1
N2 - This paper examines how the fertility of enslaved women was affected by the promise of freedom. Exploiting geographic variation in the effect of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, I demonstrate a negative correlation between fertility and the distance to freedom. This negative correlation is stronger on larger plantations but weaker when the slaveholder is a woman. A similar correlation is not present for white children, slave children with white fathers, or slave children born prior to the Fugitive Slave Law. The negative correlation suggests that the promise of freedom played an important role in the everyday lives of slaves.
AB - This paper examines how the fertility of enslaved women was affected by the promise of freedom. Exploiting geographic variation in the effect of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, I demonstrate a negative correlation between fertility and the distance to freedom. This negative correlation is stronger on larger plantations but weaker when the slaveholder is a woman. A similar correlation is not present for white children, slave children with white fathers, or slave children born prior to the Fugitive Slave Law. The negative correlation suggests that the promise of freedom played an important role in the everyday lives of slaves.
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U2 - 10.1162/REST_a_00466
DO - 10.1162/REST_a_00466
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84928545907
SN - 0034-6535
VL - 97
SP - 472
EP - 484
JO - Review of Economics and Statistics
JF - Review of Economics and Statistics
IS - 2
ER -