The poverty of slavery
Subtitle: how unfree labor pollutes the economy
By: Robert E. Wright
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2017
Place of publication: Cham, Switzerland
Language: eng
Number of pages: 302
ISBN-13: 9783319489674
Subjects: Economic aspects; Slavery
Other titles: How unfree labor pollutes the economy
Description: This ground-breaking book adds an economic angle to a traditionally moral argument, demonstrating that slavery has never promoted economic growth or development, neither today nor in the past. While unfree labor may be lucrative for slaveholders, its negative effects on a country's economy, much like pollution, drag down all members of society. Tracing the history of slavery around the world, from prehistory through the US Antebellum South to the present day, Wright illustrates how slaveholders burden communities and governments with the task of maintaining the system while preventing productive individuals from participating in the economy. Historians, economists, policymakers, and anti-slavery activists need no longer apologize for opposing the dubious benefits of unfree labor. Wright provides a valuable resource for exposing the hidden price tag of slaving to help them pitch antislavery policies as matters of both human rights and economic well-being. --
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-273) and index.
Table of contents: title: Yet another half untold; title: Various degrees of liberty; title: A not so peculiar institution; title: Slavery resilient; title: That which is seen : enslavers' profits; title: That which is unseen I : slavery's pollution; title: That which is unseen II : slavery's hidden costs; title: Real abolition.