Start-up Nation? Slave Wealth and Entrepreneurship in Civil War Maryland
利用邓白氏数据与1860年马里兰州人口普查和奴隶登记数据，研究发现奴隶主在1864年无偿解放前更可能创业，且这一优势在解放后消失，表明奴隶财富作为贷款抵押品的作用大于其生产优势。
Slave property rights yielded a source of collateral as well as a coerced labor force. Using data from Dun and Bradstreet linked to the 1860 census and slave schedules in Maryland, we find that slaveowners were more likely to start businesses prior to the uncompensated 1864 emancipation, even conditional on total wealth and human capital, and this advantage disappears after emancipation. We assess a number of potential explanations, and find suggestive evidence that this is due to the superiority of slave wealth as a source of collateral for credit rather than any advantage in production. The collateral dimension of slave property magnifies its importance to historical American economic development.