Insuring Slavery: Actuarial Science and the Underwriting of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in the Eighteenth Century

确保奴隶制：精算学和十八世纪跨大西洋奴隶贸易的承保

• 批准号: 2043209
• 负责人: Michael Ralph
• 金额: $ 53.33万
• 依托单位: New York University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-04-01 至 2024-02-29
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2043209&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Insuring; Slavery; Actuarial; Science; Underwriting

This project provides the first systematic analysis of the application of probabilistic mathematics to the trade in enslaved Africans. It offers foundational research for an exploration of the relationship between the marine insurance industry and the trans-Atlantic trade in human beings across more than one hundred years. Through this work, the project traces a complete circuit of value across the trans-Atlantic slave trade—from the price for which enslaved persons were sold on the coast of Africa, to the price for which they were insured as cargo, to the price for which they were auctioned, to the price for which they were later insured or rented out as a workers. This research contributes significantly to the resurgent interest in making sense of the role enslavement played in shaping techniques of accounting, risk management, and actuarial science. Data will be used to expand the Treasury of Weary Souls, a public database of policies that insured enslaved persons as property.This research is comprised of three activities that produce two outcomes. First, it conducts a systematic scoping review and qualitative coding of the remaining records of known individual underwriters in London during the eighteenth century. Second, it conducts a systematic scoping review and qualitative coding of insurance-focused archival collections for records pertaining to the trade of enslaved Africans as well as a reevaluation of slavery-focused archival collections for records pertaining to insurance. Third, it conducts preliminary archival research on the relationship between the slave trade and insurance in western Europe as well as the insurance of slave-produced goods returning to Europe. This research produces traditional scholarly output including articles and a book. Through our methodological innovations, our publications, and our database, we will generate foundational material for scholars and the public to better understand the role of still-in-use risk-assessment techniques and financial instruments that have their roots in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该项目首次系统分析了概率数学在被奴役非洲人贸易中的应用，为探索一百多年来海上保险业与跨大西洋人类贸易之间的关系提供了基础研究。通过这项工作，该项目追踪了跨大西洋奴隶贸易的完整价值循环——从奴隶在非洲海岸的出售价格，到他们作为货物投保的价格，再到奴隶的价格。他们被拍卖的价格，以及后来他们作为工人投保或出租的价格，这项研究极大地促进了人们对理解奴役在塑造会计、风险管理和精算科学技术中所扮演的角色的兴趣。数据将用于扩大疲倦灵魂宝库，这是一个为奴隶财产提供保险的公共政策数据库。这项研究由三项活动组成，产生两个成果：首先，它进行了系统的范围审查和定性编码。其次，它对与被奴役的非洲人贸易有关的以保险为重点的档案收藏进行了系统的范围审查和定性编码，并对以奴隶制为重点的记录进行了重新评估。第三，对西欧奴隶贸易与保险之间的关系以及奴隶生产的产品返回欧洲的保险进行了初步的档案研究。我们的学术成果包括文章和书籍，通过我们的方法创新、出版物和数据库，我们将为学者和公众提供基础材料，以更好地理解仍在使用的风险评估技术和金融工具的作用。他们的根源在于跨大西洋奴隶贸易。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。