I have done research on the economics of the interregional slave
trade of the United States with particular emphasis on the New
Orleans slave market. My research includes the structure of slave
prices, the distribution of occupations, anthropometrics (the
analysis of slave heights), family structure, and the geographic
origins of slaves sold in New Orleans. Recently, I have been studying
the economic history of hospital care for slaves in New Orleans.
Much of my research involves the development of large computerized
data-bases from information found in original manuscript sources.
I analyze these data using statistical and econometric methods
and models guided by economic theory, including explicit hypothesis
testing. My areas of research interest include sample selection bias, the
choice of market mechanisms, the economic returns to human capital,
the demographic effects of immigration, the political economy of public
school finance, and racial discrimination.
Finally, I am proud of my joint research with Tulane undergraduates.
See the papers with Richard Chamberlain, Jessica Hayes, Kevin
Lander, and Mallorie Smith (as indicated by asterisks).
New Orleans Hospitals
- Trevon Logan and Jonathan Pritchett, "On the Marital
Status of U.S. Slaves: Evidence from Touro Infirmary, New Orleans,
Louisiana," Explorations in Economic History 69(1)
(July 2018), pp. 50-63., [pdf].
- Jonathan B. Pritchett and Myeong-Su Yun, “The In-hospital
Mortality Rates of Slaves and Freemen: Evidence from Touro Infirmary,
New Orleans, Louisiana, 1855-1860,” Explorations in
Economic History 46 (April 2009), pp. 241-252. [pdf].
- Kevin Lander* and Jonathan Pritchett, “When to Care:
The Economic Rationale of Slavery Health Care Provision,”
Social Science History 33 (Summer 2009), pp. 155-182.[pdf].
- Insan Tunali and Jonathan B. Pritchett, “Cox Regression
with Alternative Concepts of Waiting Time: The New Orleans Yellow
Fever Epidemic of 1853,” Journal of Applied Econometrics
12 (Jan.–Feb. 1997), pp. 1-25.[pdf].
- Jonathan B. Pritchett and Insan Tunali, “Strangers'
Disease: Determinants of Yellow Fever Mortality During the New
Orleans Epidemic of 1853,” Explorations in Economic
History 32 (October 1995), pp. 517-539. [pdf].
Slave Trade
- Rajesh P. Narayanan and Jonathan Pritchett. "Financial
Economics of United States Slavery." In the Oxford
Research Encyclopedia of Economics and Finance. Oxford
University Press, 2021. doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190625979.013.761
- Charles W. Calomiris and Jonathan Pritchett, "Betting
on Secession: Quantifying Political Events Surrounding Slavery
and the Civil War," American Economic Review,
106(1) (January 2016), pp. 1–23. [pdf].
Also NBER working paper 19625. [pdf].
Some press about our work: AEA,
Slate,
Pacific
Standard and
History News Network.
- Jonathan Pritchett and Jessica Hayes,* "The Occupations
of Slaves Sold in New Orleans: Missing Values, Cheap Talk, or
Informative Advertising?" Cliometrica, 10(2) (March
2016). [pdf].
- Jonathan Pritchett and Herman Freudenberger, “A Peculiar
Sample: a reply to Steckel and Ziebarth,” Journal
of Economic History, 76(1) (March 2016). [pdf].
- Jonathan Pritchett and Mallorie Smith,* "Sequential sales
as a test of adverse selection in the market for slaves,"
Journal of Economic History, 73 (June, 2013), pp. 479-499.
[pdf].
On-line appendix [pdf].
- Charles W. Calomiris and Jonathan B. Pritchett, “Preserving
Slave Families for Profit: Traders’ Incentives and Pricing
in the New Orleans Slave Market,” Journal of Economic
History 69 (December, 2009), pp. 986-1011. [pdf].
Also NBER working paper 14281, pp. 1-54.[pdf].
- Jonathan B. Pritchett, “Quantitative Estimates of the
United States Interregional Slave Trade, 1820-1860,” Journal
of Economic History 61 (June 2001), pp. 467-475. [pdf].
- Jonathan B. Pritchett, “The Interregional Slave Trade
and the Selection of Slaves for the New Orleans Market,”
Journal of Interdisciplinary History 28 (Summer, 1997),
pp. 57-85. [pdf].
- Jonathan B. Pritchett and Richard M. Chamberlain,* “Selection
in the Market for Slaves: New Orleans, 1830-1860,” Quarterly
Journal of Economics 108 (May, 1993), pp. 461-473.[pdf].
- Jonathan B. Pritchett and Herman Freudenberger, “A Peculiar
Sample: The Selection of Slaves for the New Orleans Market,”
Journal of Economic History 52 (March, 1992), pp. 109-127.
[pdf].
- Herman Freudenberger and Jonathan B. Pritchett, “The
Domestic United States Slave Trade: New Evidence,” Journal
of Interdisciplinary History 21 (Winter, 1991), pp. 447-477.
[pdf].
- Jonathan Pritchett and Mallorie Smith,* "An Economic
Analysis of Slave Warranties: The 1830 New Orleans Slave Market."
Working Paper, Tulane University (November, 2011), pp. 1-30.
- Jonathan Pritchett, "Demographic Causes and Consequences
of the Interregional Slave Trade: The Slave Breeding Hypothesis."
Working Paper, Tulane University (October, 2017), pp. 1-35.
Southern Public Schools
- Jonathan B. Pritchett, “The Burden of Negro Schooling:
Tax Incidence and Racial Redistribution in Postbellum North
Carolina,” Journal of Economic History 49 (December,
1989), pp. 966-973. [pdf].
- Jonathan B. Pritchett, “North Carolina's Public Schools:
Growth and Local Taxation,” Social Science History
9 (Fall, 1985), pp. 277-291. [pdf].
- Jonathan B. Pritchett, “The Term of Occupancy of Southern
Farmers in the First Decades of the Twentieth Century,”
Historical Methods, 20 (Summer, 1987), pp. 107-112.
[pdf].