Responsible researcher: Adriano Valladão Pires Ribeiro

Article Title: The Mission: Human Capital Transmission, Economic Persistence, and Culture in South America

Author of the article: Felipe Valencia Caicedo

Intervention Location: Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay

Sample size : 549 municipalities

Sector: Others

Type of intervention: effect of Jesuit missions

Variable of main interest: human capital

Evaluation Method: Others - Natural Historical Experiment

Policy Problem

The transmission of human capital has long-term impacts, being an important factor in explaining economic results in the future. The Guarani Jesuit Missions that lasted between 1609 and 1767, in South America, had a primary religious objective, but they also invested in education, mainly in the schooling of young people and training for adults. The economic impacts of the missions can be seen even today in the affected locations.

Assessment Context

The Jesuit Order arrived in South America in 1549 in the city of Salvador, Bahia, and the missions soon spread to various areas of the Portuguese and Spanish empires that are today in Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil and Mexico. Although the main objective was the conversion of the faithful to Christianity, the Jesuits taught children to read, write and basic arithmetic operations, and train adults in masonry, carving and embroidery. It is also emphasized the value of education for the Jesuit order, being on the technological and cultural frontier of its time with contributions to the arts, music, cartography, linguistics, mathematics, among others.

In turn, the Guarani missions were among the main order, where the first mission took place in 1609 on the outs of Asuncion, Paraguay. In total, the Jesuits Guarani founded 30 missions (15 in Argentina, 8 in Paraguay and 7 in Brazil) and, in their maximum, had a population of over 120,000 people. The area consisted of only an indigenous tribe that was in the early days of development stages, had no weapons or iron tools, were not fixed in the same place and had some techniques of corn and cassava plantation. Finally, the expulsion of the Jesuits from the Portuguese and Spanish lands took place in 1767 after political disputes in Europe. The following year there were no more Jesuit missionaries in the region and they never returned later.

Intervention Details

To study the long-term effects of the Guarani Jesuit Missions, data was sought from the locations where the missions took place, which totals 549 municipal observations from the 3 countries involved. The historical files contained the location of the missions, the year of foundation, population and the work carried out. Information from censuses carried out in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay at the end of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century was also used. The most recent information in the area comes from censuses carried out in the 21st century. The main variables refer to education, income, geographic conditions and climatic factors.

Methodology Details

The data highlighted above allow the level of human capital and current income of municipalities to be related to the presence or not of Jesuit missions in the 17th and 18th centuries. This is due to the expulsion of the Jesuits to have happened due to exogenous factors to the localities of the missions and religious intervention took place at an initial moment of the development of the local population, which would further highlight its importance for social, economic and cultural indicators later.

The causal connection is also supported by other factors. First, historical archives suggest that the foundations of the missions followed no obvious principle, being the result of adventure and randomness. Second, geographical and climate conditions that could influence the foundation and development of the locality, such as altitude and proximity of rivers, were taken into consideration in the analysis so that their interferences would not reflect on the results. Finally, there were also missions of other orders, such as Franciscan, allowing comparison of the effects of interventions between them.

Results

The relationship between the literacy rate of the 15 -year or older population and the distance from the nearest Jesuit mission is negative, that is, the further a municipality in the region is from a town that housed a mission, the lower the literacy rate Current days. The estimated effect suggests a reduction in illiteracy by at least 10% for municipalities less than 100 km away from a Jesuit mission. The impact is similar when considering the median of school years to Brazil, proximity increases the value by almost 15%. Income today and the distance from a Jesuit mission also correspond negatively, that is, the highest income municipalities are closer to the missions area. Per capita income increases by about 10% in these locations.

Then compares the Jesuit missions with the Franciscan Guarani, as both are Catholic orders that worked in the same area. It is noted that elements such as the determination of the site, the European indigenous relationship, and weather and geographical conditions are common for both missions. On the other hand, the Franciscans did not accentuate the formation of human capital in their conversions. Unlike municipalities near the Jesuit missions, Franciscan proximity had no effect on literacy rate and income today.

Among the mechanisms responsible for the persistent difference in human capital and income are occupational specialization and technological adoption. It was found that the individuals who participated in religious missions receiving teaching and technical training left the agricultural activity to start an artisanal activity, such as trade and manufacturing. In addition, areas with the largest human capital due to the presence of Jesuit interventions were able to incorporate new agricultural technologies and grow faster.

Public Policy Lessons

The Guarani Jesuit Missions (1609 - 1767) had a long-term effect, impacting both literacy and schooling and income in localities close to the missions. It is also noteworthy that these effects were exclusive to Jesuit interventions when contrasted with Franciscan interventions, especially due to the focus on the accumulation of human capital by Jesuits. The results reinforce not only the importance of investment in human capital for long-term economic development, but also the historical role of institutions.

Reference

CAICEDO, Felipe V. "The Mission: Human Capital Transmission, Economic Persistence, and Culture in South America." The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 134, Issue 1, February 2019, Pages 507–56, 2018.