The magnitude of returns to colonial-era investments in Africa has been addressed in an extensive literature, as have the nature and legacies of extractive colonial institutions. However, the link between these institutions and the profitability of firms remains unclear. We reconstruct the...

Coercion and Wage Labour presents novel histories of people who experienced physical, social, political or cultural compulsion in the course of paid work. Broad in scope, the chapters examine diverse areas of work including textile production, war industries, civil service and domestic labour,...

Following the abolition of slavery, various forms of compulsory labour were adopted by colonial powers to develop their economies. This paper analyses the contemporary consequences of compulsory cotton production-a forced labour system that operated in colonial Mozambique from 1926 to 1961....

Disruptions of labor market trajectories have lasting effects on later economic success. One type of disruption that is understudied is displacement due to forced labor conscription, despite it still being a frequent event nowadays. I study the consequences of exposure to forced labor...

Through this paper, the author emphasises the importance of the role that migrant women and men play in the Italian agricultural sector, and the need to better protect them from forms of labour exploitation. Italian products are well known all over the world and represent the excellency of an...

The article analyzes the legal problems in the implementation of international labour standards on the abolition of forced labour in the national legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Fundamental documents of the International Labour Organization on the abolition of forced labour – the...

The study aims to examine whether beggar children are victims of forced labor, as well as to identify the manifestations of forced labor in beggar children, and assess whether forced child begging relates to deteriorated health-related quality of life and mental health. The study focused on the...

The study aims to examine whether beggar children are victims of forced labor, as well as to identify the manifestations of forced labor in beggar children, and assess whether forced child begging relates to deteriorated health-related quality of life and mental health. The study focused on the...

Penology in the Jim Crow South centered on the chain gang. Gangs ostensibly served three purposes: their severity served as a deterrent; their putting convicts to work on roads and other public improvements reduced the taxpayers’ costs of infrastructure; and their discriminatory implementation...

Revealing the harsh reality of trafficking in persons and forced labour within the Southern Africa and Indian Ocean Region, the Regional Baseline Assessment sheds light on prevalent challenges and critical gaps in addressing these criminal activities. Despite efforts to combat trafficking,...

The magnitude of returns to colonial-era investments in Africa has been addressed in an extensive literature, as have the nature and legacies of extractive colonial institutions. However, the link between these institutions and the profitability of firms remains unclear. We reconstruct the...

This paper documents the emergence of a race gap in incarceration after the abolition of slavery in the U.S. Counties that relied more on slave labor incarcerated more African Americans, with no comparable effects for whites. An increase of slave reliance by 10% increases black incarceration...

Forced labour continues to be a major global issue. The latest International Labour Organization's estimates put the global number of people in forced labour at 27.6 million. Though this phenomenon impacts some parts of the world more than others, all continents are affected. The respect for...

"In Beyond Constraint, Shona N. Jackson offers a new approach to labour and its analysis by demonstrating the fundamental relation between Black and Indigenous People's sovereign, free, and coerced labour in the Americas. Through the writings of Cedric Robinson, Walter Rodney, C. L. R. James,...

Globally, coercive labor (i.e., forced, bonded, and/or trafficked labor) and child labor are disproportionately prevalent in environments with weak regulatory enforcement and state capacity. Effective strategies for addressing them may therefore need to align with the private incentives of...

Approximately 27.5 million individuals fell victim to forced labor in 2021. The Indian construction industry is particularly vulnerable to forced labor as workers experience excessive work hours, required work on rest days, and unpaid wages. Micro-contractors (MCs), who oversee worker...

A study of Indian indentured labor in Mauritius, British Guiana, and Trinidad that explores the history of indentures normalization. In this book, historian Jonathan Connolly traces the normalization of indenture from its controversial beginnings to its widespread adoption across the British...

"In this book, Thomas Aiello takes a close look at the Deep South's dependence on systems of bound labor during the post-Reconstruction era through the story of a labor camp in Georgia, drawing attention to the injustices and abuses of misdemeanor convict leasing."

Institutions of justice, like prisons, can be used to serve economic and other extrajudicial interests, with lasting deleterious effects. We study the effects on incarceration when prisoners are used primarily as a source of labor using evidence from British colonial Nigeria. We digitized...

The Spanish colonial empire initially faced a trilemma in the New World. First, they needed to incentivize quasi-private Spanish expeditions to subdue, settle, and secure new territories. Second, they needed labor to develop the new territories and provide a stream of rents for the imperial...

Over 25 million people are victims of forced labor globally; the vast majority are low-skilled migrant workers who migrated from a different country or region. Evidence so far indicates that much of labor exploitation has roots in the recruitment process. This motivates the question of whether...

Over the past 40 years, Australia has experienced significant changes to the proportion of the population that is attached to its labour market. From the early 1980s, the aggregate labour force participation rate rose steadily, climbing from around 60 per cent in 1983 to almost 66 per cent in...