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

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 positively associated with mortality rates, likely resulting from malnourishment and unhygienic condi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of economic history Vol. 82; no. 1; pp. 211 - 249
Main Authors: de Zwart, Pim, Gallardo-Albarrán, Daniel, Rijpma, Auke
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.03.2022
Subjects:
19th century
Coffee
Colonialism
Consumption
Crops
Cultivation
Economic development
Economic history
Forced labor
GDP
Gross Domestic Product
Infectious diseases
International markets
Labor
Mortality
Mortality rates
Per capita
Plantations
Prices
Standard of living
Sugar
Indonesia
India
East Indies
ISSN:0022-0507, 1471-6372
Online Access:Get full text
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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 positively associated with mortality rates, likely resulting from malnourishment and unhygienic conditions on plantations and the spread of infectious diseases. An instrumental variable approach, using international market prices for coffee and sugar for predicting 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 10 and 30 percent higher by the late 1870s.
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ISSN:0022-0507
1471-6372
DOI:10.1017/S0022050721000577