Working Paper: NBER ID: w30251
Authors: Lee J. Alston; Marie Christine Duggan; Julio Alberto Ramos Pastrana
Abstract: We explore the long run impact of the Spanish missions on Native American outcomes in the early 20th century. Native communities who interacted with Spanish missionaries developed into enclaves which blended Catholicism with native culture. Some survived assaults on their property rights by Mexico and the US to persist as reservations into the 20th century. We found that having extensive contact with missions increased the percentage of Native Americans Catholic, decreased crime rates, and increased income from agriculture and overall earnings from wages. Surprisingly, we found no impact on education.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: N11; N12; O15
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| contact with Spanish missions (N96) | percentage of Native Americans identifying as Catholic (Z12) |
| contact with Spanish missions (N96) | crime rates (K42) |
| contact with Spanish missions (N96) | agricultural income (Q19) |
| contact with Spanish missions (N96) | overall earnings (J31) |
| contact with Spanish missions (N96) | educational attainment (I21) |