Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T13:12:13.122Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Long-Run Effects of Forced Resettlement: Evidence from Apartheid South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 September 2019

Martin Abel*
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor, Middlebury College, Warner Hall 402, 57 Old Chapel Rd., Middlebury, VT 05753. E-mail: [email protected].

Abstract

In an attempt to divide and marginalize the black population, the apartheid regime forcefully relocated some 3.5 million South Africans to rural homelands between 1960 and 1980. This event, considered one of history’s largest social engineering exercises, created overcrowded and economically deprived communities of displaced people. This article uses geo-coded data to explore the long-term effects of removals on current measures of social capital. Comparing people within the same homeland, I show that those living close to former resettlement camps have higher levels of trust towards members of their social network, people in general, and members of other ethnic groups. These findings are important, as solidarity among suppressed people is believed to be a critical factor in explaining the demise of the apartheid regime.

Type
Article
Copyright
© The Economic History Association 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

This paper greatly benefited from discussions with and comments from Willa Brown, Christian Dippel, James Fenske, Price Fishback, Johan Fourie, Rema Hanna, Richard Hornbeck, Daniel de Kadt, Edward Kerby, Horacio Larreguy, Brendan Maughan-Brown, Nathan Nunn, Elizabeth Walker, Laurence Wilse-Samson, Francis Wilson, and seminar participants at Harvard University, Stellenbosch University, and the University of Cape Town. Simeon Abel provided excellent research assistance. All errors and omissions remain fully my responsibility.

References

REFERENCES

Acemoglu, Daron, Hassan, Tarek, and Robinson, James. “Social Structure and Development: A Legacy of the Holocaust in Russia.Quarterly Journal of Economics 126, no. 2 (2011): 895946.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abel, Martin. “Replication: Long-Run Effects of Forced Resettlement: Evidence from Apartheid South Africa.” Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2019-08-28. https://doi.org/10.3886/E111599V1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alesina, Alberto, and La Ferrara, Eliana. “Participation in Heterogeneous Communities.Quarterly Journal of Economics 115, no. 3 (2000): 847904.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alesina, Alberto, and La Ferrara, Eliana. “Who Trusts Others.Journal of Public Economics 85, no. 2 (2002): 207–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alesina, Alberto, and La Ferrara, Eliana. “Ethnic Diversity and Economic Performance.Journal of Economic Literature 43 (2005): 762800.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alesina, Alberto, Michalopoulos, Stelios, and Papaioannou, Elias. “Ethnic Inequality.Journal of Political Economy 124, no. 2 (2016): 428–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Amodio, Francesco, and Chiovelli, Giorgio. “Ethnicity and Violence During Democratic Transitions: Evidence from South Africa.Journal of the European Economic Association 16, no. 4 (2017): 1234–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Angrist, Joshua D., and Pischke, Joern-Steffen. Mostly Harmless Econometrics. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arbatli, Cemal Eren, Quamrul, H. Ashraf, Galor, Oded, and Klemp, Marc. “Diversity and Conflict.” Econometrica, forthcoming.Google Scholar
Bastos, Paulo, and Bottan, Nicolas. “Overcoming the Tyranny of History: Evidence from Post-Apartheid South Africa.Mimeo, 2014.Google Scholar
Bazzi, Samuel, Gaduh, Arya, Rothenberg, Alexander, and Wong, Maisy. “Unity in Diversity? Ethnicity, Migration, and Nation Building in Indonesia.” CEPR Discussion Papers 12377, London, UK, 2017.Google Scholar
Burns, Justine, Corno, L., and La Ferrara, Eliana. “Does Interaction Affect Racial Prejudice and Cooperation? Evidence from Randomly Assigned Peers in South Africa.” Working Paper, 2015.Google Scholar
Cameron, Colin, Gelbach, Jonah, and Miller, Douglas. “Bootstrap-Based Improvements for Inference with Clustered Errors.Review of Economics and Statistics 90, no. 3 (2008): 414–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cameron, A. Colin, and Douglas, L. Miller. “Robust Inference with Clustered Data.Handbook of Empirical Economics and Finance 106 (2010): 1–28.Google Scholar
Caselli, Francesco, and Wilbur John Coleman. “On the Theory of Ethnic Conflict.” Journal of the European Economic Association 11 (2013): 161–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaney, Eric. “Ethnic Cleansing and the Long-Term Persistence of Extractive Institutions: Evidence from the Expulsion of the Moriscos.UCD Centre for Economic Research Working Paper, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland, 2008.Google Scholar
Chaney, Eric, and Hornbeck, Richard. “Economic Growth in the Malthusian Era: Evidence from the 1609 Spanish Expulsion of the Moriscos.Economic Journal 126 (2016): 1404–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christopher, Anthony. The Atlas of Changing South Africa. London and New York: Routledge, 2001.Google Scholar
Clingingsmith, David, Khwaja, Asim, and Kremer, Michael. “Estimating the Impact of the Hajj: Religion and Tolerance in Islam’s Global Gathering.Quarterly Journal of Economics 124, no. 3 (2009): 1133–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooper, Robert. “Improving Intergroup Relations: Lessons Learned from Cooperative Learning Programs.Journal of Social Issues 55 (1999): 647–64.Google Scholar
de Kadt, Daniel, and Larreguy, Horacio. “Agents of the Regime? Traditional Leaders and Electoral Behavior in South Africa.Journal of Politics 80, no. 2 (2018): 382–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Luca, Giacomo, and Verpoorten, Marijke. “Civil War, Social Capital and Resilience in Uganda.Oxford Economic Papers 67, (2015): 661–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Desmond, Costmas. The Discarded People. London: Penguin Press, 1971.Google Scholar
Dinkelman, Taryn. “Long Run Health Repercussions of Drought Shocks: Evidence from South African Homelands.Economic Journal 127, no. 604 (2017): 1906–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dippel, Christian. “Forced Coexistence and Economic Development: Evidence from Native American Reservations.Econometrica 82, no. 6 (2014): 2131–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Easterly, William, and Levine, Ross. “Africa’s Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions.Quarterly Journal of Economics 112, no. 4 (1997): 1203–50.10.1162/003355300555466CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eriksson, Katherine. “Does the Language of Instruction in Primary School Affect Later Labour Market Outcomes? Evidence from South Africa.Economic History of Developing Regions 29, no. 2 (2014): 311–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esteban, Joan, Mayoral, Laura, and Ray, Debraj. “Ethnicity and Conflict: An Empirical Study.American Economic Review 102, no. 4 (2012): 1310–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esteban, Joan, and Ray, Debraj. “Conflict and Distribution.Journal of Economic Theory 87, no. 2 (1999): 379415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fafchamps, Marcel. “Development and Social Capital.Journal of Development Studies 42, no. 7 (2006): 1180–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fourie, Johan, and Mariotti, Martine. The Economics of Apartheid: An Introduction.” Economic History of Developing Regions 29, no. 2 (2014): 113–25.Google Scholar
Geyer, Hermanus. “Apartheid in South Africa and Industrial Deconcentration in the PWV Area.Planning Perspectives 4, no. 3 (1989): 251–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, James. “The Contributions of Truth to Reconciliation: Lessons from South Africa.Journal of Conflict Resolution 5, no. 3 (2006): 409–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glaeser, Edward, Laibson, David, Scheinkman, Jose, and Soutter, Christine. “Measuring Trust.Quarterly Journal of Economics 115, no. 3 (2000): 811–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, Pippa, and Hirsch, Alan. “The Impact of Resettlement in the Ciskei: Three Case Studies.” SALDRU Working Paper No. 49. University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa, 1983.Google Scholar
Guiso, Luigi, Zingales, Luigi, and Sapienza, Paola. “Social Capital as Good Culture.Journal of the European Economic Association 6, no. 2 (2008): 295–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herbst, Jeffrey. States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Horowitz, Donald. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1985.Google Scholar
Horrell, Muriel. The African Homelands of South Africa. Johannesburg: South African Institute of Race Relations, 1973.Google Scholar
Kelk Mager, Anne, and Mulaudzi, Maanda. “Popular Responses to Apartheid: 1948–c.1975.” In Cambridge History of South Africa Volume 2, edited by Ross, Robert, Mager, Anne Kelk, and Nasson, Bill, 369408. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kerby, Edward. “Fields into Factories: The Origin and Evolution of Regional Development in South Africa.Mimeo, 2014.Google Scholar
Letki, Natalia. “Does Diversity Erode Social Cohesion? Social Capital and Race in British Neighbourhoods.Political Studies 56, no. 1 (2008): 99126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, Yaojun, Pickles, Andrew, and Savage, Mike. “Social Capital and Social Trust in Britain in the Late 1990s.European Sociological Review 21, no. 1 (2005): 109–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Louw, Antoinette, and Shaw, Mark. Stolen Opportunities: The Impact of Crime on South Africa’s Poor. Halfway House: Institute for Security Studies, 1997.Google Scholar
Mare, Gerry. African Population Relocation in South Africa. Johannesburg, South Africa: South African Institute of Race Relations, 1980.Google Scholar
Mariotti, Martine. “Living Standards in South Africa’s Former Homelands.ANU Working Paper, Department of Economics, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, 2012.Google Scholar
Mariotti, Martine. “Fathers Employment and Sons Stature: The Long-Run Effects of a Positive Regional Employment Shock in South Africa’s Mining Industry.Economic Development and Cultural Change 63, no. 3 (2015): 485514.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marschall, Melissa J., and Stolle, Dietlind. “Race and the City: Neighborhood Context and the Development of Generalized Trust.Political Behavior 26, no. 2 (2004): 125–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matuszeski, Janina, and Schneider, Frank. “Patterns of Ethnic Group Segregation.Mimeo, 2006.Google Scholar
Mbaku, John. “Property Rights and Rent Seeking in South Africa.Cato Journal 11, no. 1 (1991): 135–50.Google Scholar
Mbeki, Govan. South Africa: The Peasants’ Revolt. London: International Defence and Aid Fund, 1984.Google Scholar
Moerdijk, Donald. Anti Development. Paris: UNESCO Press, 1981.Google Scholar
Napier-Moore, Rebecca. Entrenched Relations and the Permanence of Long-Term Refugee Camp Situations. Brighton, UK: Sussex Centre for Migration, 2005.Google Scholar
Nunn, Nathan. “The Long-Term Effects of Africa’s Slave Trade.Quarterly Journal of Economics 123, no. 1 (2008): 139–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nunn, Nathan, and Wantchekon, Leon. “The Slave Trade and the Origins of Mistrust in Africa.American Economic Review 101, no. 7 (2011): 3221–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okunogbe, Oyebola. “Does Exposure to Other Ethnic Groups Promote National Integration? Evidence from Nigeria.” Policy Research Working Paper No. 8606, World Bank, 2015.Google Scholar
Osafo-Kwaako, Philip. “The Legacy of State Planning: Evidence from Villagization in Tanzania.Harvard University, Mimeo, 2012.Google Scholar
Papaioannou, Elias, and Michalopoulos, Stelios. “Pre-Colonial Ethnic Institutions and Contemporary African Development.Econometrica 81, no. 1 (2013): 113–52.Google Scholar
Peteet, Julie. “Refugees, Resistance, and Identity.” In Globalization and Social Movements: Culture, Power, and the Transnational Public Sphere, edited by Guidry, John, Kennedy, Michael, and Zald, Mayer, Chapter 8, 183–93. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Pettigrew, Thomas, and Tropp, Linda. “A Meta-Analytic Test of Intergroup Contact Theory.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 90, no. 5 (2006): 751–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Platzky, Laurine, and Walker, Cherryl. Surplus People (1st ed.). Johannesburg: Ravan Press, 1985.Google Scholar
Posel, Dorrit. “Households and Labour Migration in Post-Apartheid South Africa.Studies in Economics and Econometrics 34, no. 3 (2010): 129–41.Google Scholar
Posel, Dorrit. “The Apartheid Project, 1948–1970.” In Cambridge History of South Africa, edited by Ross, Robert, Mager, Anne Kelk, and Nasson, Bill, 319–68. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.Google Scholar
Putnam, Robert. Democracies in Flux: The Evolution of Social Capital in Contemporary Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Putnam, Robert. “ E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the Twenty-First Century. The 2006 Johann Skytte Prize Lecture.Scandinavian Political Studies 30, no. 2 (2007): 137–66 . CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Putnam, Robert, Leonardi, Robert, and Nanetti, Rafaella. Making Democracy Work. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993.Google Scholar
Rao, Gautam. “Familiarity Does Not Breed Contempt: Generosity, Discrimination, and Diversity in Delhi Schools.American Economic Review 109, no. 3 (2019): 774809.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogers, Barbara. Divide and Rule: South Africa’s Bantustans (2nd ed.). London: International Defence and Aid Fund, 1980.Google Scholar
Rohner, Dominic, Thoenig, Mathias, and Zilibotti, Fabrizio. “Seeds of Distrust: Conflict in Uganda.Journal of Economic Growth 18, no. 3 (2013): 217–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenbaum, Paul R., and Donald, B. Rubin. “Constructing a Control Group Using Multivariate Matched Sampling Methods That Incorporate the Propensity Score.American Statistician 39, no. 1 (1985): 33–38.Google Scholar
Sharp, John, and Spiegel, Andrew. “Vulnerability to Impoverishment in South African Rural Areas: The Erosion of Kinship and Neighbourhood as Social Resources.Africa 55, no. 2 (1985): 133–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simkins, Charles. Four Essays on the Past Present and Possible Future of the Distribution of the Black Population of South Africa. Rondebosch, South Africa: Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit, University of Cape Town, 1983.Google Scholar
Simkins, Charles. “The Evolution of the South African Population in the Twentieth Century.” In The Cambridge History of South Africa. Volume 2: 1885–1994, edited by Ross, Robert, Mager, Anne Kelk, and Nasson, Bill, 492517. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.Google Scholar
Surplus People Project (SPP). Forced Removals in South Africa: Volume 1–5 of the Surplus People Project Report. Cape Town: Surplus People Project, 1983.Google Scholar
Surplus People Project (SPP). Surplus People Project Survey 1980–1981 [dataset]. Version 1. Cape Town: Surplus People Project and DataFirst [producer] and DataFirst [distributor], 2016.Google Scholar
Tabellini, Guido. “The Scope of Cooperation: Values and Incentives.Quarterly Journal of Economics 123, no. 3 (2008): 905–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tambo, Oliver R. “Support Our People until Power Is Restored to Them.” Statement at the Plenary Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, New York, 26 October 1976.Google Scholar
Thompson, Leonhard. A History of South Africa (3rd ed.). New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.Google Scholar
Tiebout, Charles M.A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures.Journal of Political Economy 64, no. 5 (1956): 416–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Timberlake, Lloyd. Africa in Crisis: The Causes, the Cures of Environmental Bankruptcy. London: Earthscan, 1985.Google Scholar
Townsend, Robert. “Risk and Insurance in Village India.Econometrica 62, no. 3 (1994): 539–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
UNHRC. Forced Displacement in 2017. Technical Report. Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations Refugee Agency, 2017.Google Scholar
Unterhalter, Elaine. Forced Removal: The Division, Segregation and Control of the People of South Africa. London: International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa, 1987.Google Scholar
Wilson, Francis, and Ramphele, Mamphela. Uprooting Poverty in South Africa. New York: W. W. Norton & Co Inc., 1989.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Abel supplementary material

Online Appendix

Download Abel supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 508.5 KB