The Intergenerational Effects of a Large Wealth Shock: White Southerners after the Civil War | Zendy

Philipp Ager | Zendy; Leah Platt Boustan | Zendy; Kimmo Eriksson | Zendy

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The Intergenerational Effects of a Large Wealth Shock: White Southerners after the Civil War

Author(s) -

Philipp Ager,

Leah Platt Boustan,

Kimmo Eriksson

Publication year - 2021

Publication title -

american economic review

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 16.936

H-Index - 297

eISSN - 1944-7981

pISSN - 0002-8282

DOI - 10.1257/aer.20191422

Subject(s) - spanish civil war , shock (circulatory) , white (mutation) , elite , demographic economics , nullification , economics , economic history , political science , development economics , labour economics , law , politics , medicine , biochemistry , chemistry , gene

The nullification of slave wealth after the US Civil War (1861–1865) was one of the largest episodes of wealth compression in history. We document that White Southern households that owned more slaves in 1860 lost substantially more wealth by 1870, relative to Southern households that had been equally wealthy before the war. Yet, their sons almost entirely recovered from this wealth shock by 1900, and their grandsons completely converged by 1940. Marriage networks and connections to other elite families may have aided in recovery, whereas transmission of entrepreneurship and skills appear less central. (JEL D31, G51, J15, J24, N31, N32)

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