The Demographic Effects of Colonialism: Forced Labor and Mortality in Java, 1834-1879

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Pim de Zwart, Wageningen University; Daniel Gallardo Albarrán, Wageningen University; Auke Rijpma, Utrecht University

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
Replication.zip application/zip 1.9 MB 06/23/2021 01:58:AM

Project Citation: 

de Zwart, Pim, Gallardo Albarrán, Daniel, and Rijpma, Auke. The Demographic Effects of Colonialism: Forced Labor and Mortality in Java, 1834-1879. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2021-06-23. https://doi.org/10.3886/E143581V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary We investigate the demographic effects of forced labor under an extractive colonial regime: the Cultivation System in nineteenth-century Java. Our panel analyses show that labor demands are strongly associated with mortality rates, likely resulting from malnourishment and unhygienic conditions on plantations and the spread of infectious disease. An instrumental variable approach, using international market prices for coffee and sugar to predict labor demands, addresses potential endogeneity concerns. Our estimates suggest that without the abolition of the Cultivation System average overall mortality in Java would have been between (roughly) 10 and 30 percent higher by the late 1870s.
Funding Sources:  View help for Funding Sources NWO (275-53-016); NWO (184-033-101)

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms labor; mortality rates; colonialism; agricultural production; sugar; coffee
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage Java, Southeast Asia, Indonesia
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 1834 – 1879
Collection Date(s):  View help for Collection Date(s) 2018 – 2021
Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) administrative records data; geographic information system (GIS) data

Methodology

Unit(s) of Observation:  View help for Unit(s) of Observation Residency
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V1 [2021-06-23]

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