The Slave Trade and the Origins of Mistrust in Africa: Comment

Abstract

Nunn and Wantchekon (2011) detect a long-lasting impact of the slave trade on current trust levels across ethnic groups in Africa. They use data from Afrobarometer’s wave 3 to construct trust measures. Using data from more recent waves which were collected after the paper was published, I fail to replicate some of the paper’s central findings. Plausible explanations are discussed.