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Slavery, Cliometrics And The Austrian School Of Economics

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  • OANA-MARIA COZMA

    (Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of IaÅŸi, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, IaÅŸi, Romania)

Abstract

Slavery is generally understood as the action of involving one group of people which controls and exploits another group of people in order to obtain a wide range of advantages. Even though historians, sociologists, psychologists, or philosophers appear to be most interested in the subject of slavery, economists have also long looked into the issue, particularly to determine if it was a justified workforce or a profitable institution. In addition to the linkages between slavery and the productivity of the slave labour force, economists continue to discuss whether or not the institution of slavery influenced the social and economic development of today's most developed nations. The purpose of this paper is to highlight and compare two perspectives on the economic profitability of slavery. On the one hand, the position of Alfred H. Conrad and John R. Meyer, the Cliometrics representatives, who examine the slave operations in the Antebellum South of the United States of America, 1812–1861, and who come to the conclusion that slavery was in fact profitable and self sustaining, will be taken into consideration. On the other hand, the position of Murray Rothbard, a representative of the Austrian School of Economics, will also be presented; more specifically, his opinion will oppose Conrad and Meyer's argument that slavery was neither profitable nor sustainable. The present paper's conclusions emphasises the fact that continuous disagreement over the subject of slavery’s profitability leaves room for further research and debate.

Suggested Citation

  • Oana-Maria Cozma, 2022. "Slavery, Cliometrics And The Austrian School Of Economics," Review of Economic and Business Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, issue 30, pages 67-77, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:aic:revebs:y:2022:j:30:cozmao
    DOI: 10.47743/rebs-2022-2-0005
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thornton, Mark, 1994. "Slavery, Profitability, and the Market Process," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 7(2), pages 21-47.
    2. Alfred H. Conrad & John R. Meyer, 1958. "The Economics of Slavery in the Ante Bellum South: Reply," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66(5), pages 442-442.
    3. Richardson, David, 1987. "The costs of survival: The transport of slaves in the middle passage and the profitability of the 18th-century British slave trade," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 178-196, April.
    4. Postma,Johannes, 1990. "The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1600–1815," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521365857, October.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    slavery; Cliometrics; The Austrian School of Economics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A13 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Relation of Economics to Social Values
    • B25 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Austrian; Stockholm School
    • B53 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Austrian
    • J40 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - General
    • N31 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913

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