Question

How did the slave trade affect African development, according to Nunn and Wantechekon? How does their argument relate to Putnam’s concept of social capital?

Answer 1

A numbers of work is presnet in literuature that shows slave trades as one of the biggest reason for Africa's under development.Nathan Nunn and Wantchekon also did research and have several relevant important findings.

The researsh showed that the current differences in the trust level in Africa, causing hindrance to development, can be traced back to transanlantic and Indian Ocean slave trades. They have identified mistrust as one of the main channels through which slave trades have impacted the development in Africa. Indidvuals trust in their relatives , neighbors, coethnics and local government is very low because ancestors were heavily affected by slave trade.