The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Erik Green . Photo

Erik Green

Professor

Erik Green . Photo

Theoretical Foundations of the Economics of Slavery : Enslaved People as Capital Investments in the Atlantic World

Author

  • Igor Martins
  • Erik Green

Summary, in English

Despite the prevalence of slavery in world history, our understanding of its persistence remains limited. Most previous studies focus primarily on slavery as a labour contract, indistinguishable from other coercive arrangements such as serfdom. More recent literature on slavery in the United States shows that enslaved people also played an important role as financial instruments. In this article, we extend the investigation by comparing slavery in the United States with that in Brazil and the Cape Colony. We show that despite significant geographic, demographic, and economic differences, slavery was not merely a labour arrangement in the three cases but a unique institution that gave enslavers complete rights over mobile property. Slavery provided access to both labour and capital, with the capital investment dimension being key to understanding its persistence. We argue that understanding slavery’s persistence requires recognising enslaved people as both sources of labour and capital investment.

Department/s

  • Department of Economic History
  • Economic development of the Global South

Publishing year

2025-12-10

Language

English

Pages

1-19

Publication/Series

Journal of Global History

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Topic

  • Economic History

Keywords

  • Slavery
  • Atlantic world
  • New History of Capitalism
  • labour coercion
  • capital investment
  • collateralisation

Status

Epub

Project

  • The establishment, growth and legacy of a settler colony: Quantitative panel studies of the political economy of Cape Colony
  • The Cape of the Good Hope Panel: Long-term studies of growth, inequality and labour coercion in the global south

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1740-0228