The Economics of Slavery

 

Outline

1. Slave Imports
   1. 666,000 before the Congressional ban in 1808

   2. Represents 7% of total 10 million slaves brought to Western Hemisphere

   3. Total Imports: Brazil 36%; Caribbean 40%; and Spanish America 17%

2. Distribution and Growth of Slaves
   1. Distribution in 1825: U.S. 36%; Brazil 31%; Caribbean 21%; and Spanish America 11%

   2. Implication: U.S. had much greater rates of natural increase

   3. By 1860 the Southern U.S. slave population was 3.84 million -53% of the Southern population (26,000 free blacks in the South)

3. Was Slavery Profitable?
   1. Historically, slaves were as much an effect as a cause of wealth.

   2. If unprofitable: 1) we should observe manumission and discouragement of births.

   3. The prices were high for conspicuous consumption - prime field hand $1200-1500 in the late 1850s (about $18,000 in 1997 dollars)

   4. Despite up front costs -rate of return about 10%

   5. Future profitability expected: over the 1850s prices relative to rentals were increasing

   6. Profits rested on efficiency of the gang labor system - Shorter hours but greater intensity than free whites

4. The Treatment of Slaves
   1. Caveat: well-being is about more than physical treatment - freedom is valuable in of itself

   2. Slaves were valuable capital assets

   3. Adult diet adequate - pork, beef, milk, sweet potatoes, and corn.

   4. Height of male slaves was 67.2 inches compared to 68.2 inches for northern males. (Africans Imported into the U.S.: 64.2 inches; Cuban born slaves: 63.6 inches)
   5. Infants and children malnourished
      1. Birth weight 5.1 lbs.
      2. Infant (age 0-1) mortality 350 per 1000 -double the rate of white children. Children moved quickly to solids and unsanitary formulas.
      3. Child mortality (ages 1-4) 201 per 1000 - 93 per 1000 for U.S. - little meat for children (unprofitable investment)
      4. Malnourished children are less aggressive and more dependent
      5. Mortality rates equal by adulthood (ages 20-24): black is 40 per 1000; and white is 39 per 1000
      6. Poor prenatal conditions: typically 54 hours of intense physical labor bent over which is harmful for fetal development
      7. Within one week of childbirth still averaging 36% of normal work load

   6. Slave Families
      1. Ex-slave narratives indicated that 2/3 lived in nuclear families as slaves but threat remained.
      2. Slave women: 20.6 years at birth of first child - compared to 24 years for white farm women.
      3. Miscegenation: 4-8% of slave children fathered by whites

   7. Reward versus punishment
      1. Rewards: managerial positions; extra food rations, manumission
      2. Punishment: whipping, food deprivation, solitary confinement, public humiliation
      3. Pain (whipping) capable of generating greater work effort but less care and require constant supervision
      4. Reward capable of generating creative work
      5. Implications for long-run viability of slavery if society is moving towards more skilled jobs.

5. Situational Ethics: How should we view behavior of blacks in bondage?
   1. Moral: passive resistance versus hard work to capture rewards
   2. Amoral: slaves responded to environmental factors and no shame or pride in behavior
   3. How we view cooperation versus resistance depends on specific atmosphere
      1. Prisoner of War atmosphere: non-cooperation laudable
      2. "Good" master: cooperation seems more reasonable