In this episode we chat with Leonard Wantchekon about his paper​ “The Slave Trade and the Origins of Mistrust in Africa”. Leonard and his co-author, Nathan Nunn, study why the current differences in trust levels within Africa can be traced back to the transatlantic and Indian Ocean slave trades. Combining contemporary individual-level survey data with historical data on slave shipments by ethnic group, they find that individuals whose ancestors were heavily raided during the slave trade are less trusting today.

Check out Leonard’s project for the African School of Economics. Website: https://africanschoolofeconomics.com/

ASE Twitter: @ASE_cotonou Paper link: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10…

Learn more about Leonard: https://scholar.princeton.edu/lwantch…

Follow Leonard Wantchekon on Twitter: @lwantchekon

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