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When to Care

The Economic Rationale of Slavery Health Care Provision

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

Kevin Lander and
Jonathan Pritchett
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Abstract

Prior to the Civil War, many hospitals in the southern United States treated both free and slave patients. In this article we develop a model for the selective medical treatment of slaves. We argue that the pecuniary benefits of hospital care increased with the price of the slave if healthy. Using a rich sample of admission records from New Orleans Touro Hospital, we find a positive correlation between the predicted price of the slave and the probability of hospital admission. We test the robustness of the model by controlling for the length of residence in the city, ownership by traders and doctors, and the type of illness.

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Social Science History , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , summer 2009, pp. 155 - 182
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 2009 

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