Working Paper: NBER ID: w22777
Authors: Jean-Paul Carvalho; Christian Dippel
Abstract: Emancipation of slaves in the 1830s transformed the political elites of the British-Caribbean plantation islands. New elites were more accountable to the citizenry. We develop a theory in which two factors limit and possibly reverse the effect of this on political outcomes, with legislators (i) ‘stepping up to pass extractive policies and/or (ii) weakening democratic institutions. The theory is supported by an historical analysis of ten Caribbean plantation islands, based on original archival data on legislator race, occupation and roll-call voting. Eventually, all assemblies that experienced a significant change in composition dissolved themselves and converted to British ‘Crown Rule’.
Keywords: elite identity; political accountability; British Caribbean; emancipation; extractive policies
JEL Codes: D71; N66; O43
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Emancipation of slaves (J47) | Transformation of political elites (P39) |
| Transformation of political elites (P39) | Increased accountability to citizenry (H83) |
| Increased accountability (G38) | Decreased likelihood of passing extractive policies (D72) |
| Scarcity of accountable legislators (D72) | Increased likelihood of unaccountable legislators supporting extractive policies (D72) |
| Increased accountability among new legislators (D72) | Weakening of democratic institutions (O17) |
| Dissolution of legislative assemblies (D72) | Institutional changes to maintain interests of elites (O17) |
| Greater political accountability (H19) | Institutional erosion (O17) |