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Robert E. Wright

The Poverty of Slavery: How Unfree Labor Pollutes the Economy 1st ed. 2017 Edition

by Robert E. Wright (Author)

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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.

ISBN-10

9783319489674
ISBN-13

978-3319489674
Edition

1st ed. 2017
Publication date

February 6, 2017
Language

English
Dimensions

5.83 x 0.71 x 8.27 inches
Print length

311 pages
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Wright's work is scholarly -- the multitude of footnotes and citationsis clear evidence that his book is well researched. However, unlike some academic books, this is very readable with fascinating insights into apractice that all right thinking people should want to eradicate. -- Forbes

This well-researched work analyzing the impact of slavery on a nation's economy presents the negative side of the debate. ... Wright presents documentation of "negative externalities" (costs) that slavery places on the economy. -- Choice

Wright's greatest service ... is to simplify a complex body of ideas into a simple sentence: slavery is pollution. Wright's book ought to be considered as the synthesis of an underappreciated analytical tradition regarding the broader economic consequences of slavery. -- EH.NET

In his deeply researched and comparatively framed The Poverty of Slavery, Robert E. Wright, a political economist and antislavery activist, draws ... upon ... numerous classical economic thinkers to underscore slavery's pernicious effect on economies over time and place. ... relentlessly argued. -- North Carolina Historical Review

Review

“This book is a vigorous rejoinder to the oft-repeated historical claim that immense profits derived from slavery powered the development of today's all-consuming system of globalized capitalism. When arguing persuasively for the contrary view, that slavery produced impoverishment, not affluence, Robert Wright marshals arguments based on a truly encyclopedic familiarity with slavery systems the world over, in the past as well as in the present. The debate that this book should initiate is very much welcome and timely in the extreme.” (James Brewer Stewart, Founder, Historians Against Slavery)

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 3319489674
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Palgrave Macmillan; 1st ed. 2017 edition (February 6, 2017)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 311 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9783319489674
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-3319489674
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.93 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.83 x 0.71 x 8.27 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,611,094 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #233 in Microeconomics (Books)
- #2,856 in Economic Conditions (Books)

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4.2 6 ratings

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Robert E. Wright

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Robert E. Wright is Senior Faculty Fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research.

https://www.aier.org/staffs/robert-e-wright/

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=D9Qsx6QAAAAJ

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3792-3506

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Richard E Sylla

especially if you think slavery was something bad that used to exist

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 19, 2018

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This book is an eye-opener, especially if you think slavery was something bad that used to exist. In fact, Wright argues, it is still very much with us, and perhaps even on the rise. In addition, he demonstrates that slavery always and everywhere has negative economic and social externalities, i.e., that it is like pollution of our land, water, and air. Its total costs far outweigh any profits or other benefits accruing to enslavers. In the United States, for example, enslavers before the Civil War controlled southern state governments and the national government. They used their political power to shift the costs of maintaining slavery--the costs of slave patrols in the South to deter runaways and stifle slave rebellions, and the costs of detaining and returning "fugitive" slaves onto others, such as non-slaveholders in the South and taxpayers in the North. Wright displays an encyclopedic knowledge of the literature pertaining to slavery, and his penetrating economic analysis makes the case that it was, and still is, in the economic interests of everyone except enslavers to put an end to it. The subject is unpleasant, but it deserves more attention.

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Samuel

Well researched, with extensive Bibliographic notes to help further studies

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 23, 2021

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What I liked
The autor read a lot that was said and researched about slavery along the ages, providing the reader with dozens of references to read and research if necessary.

The author presents interesting information about ancient and modern forms of slavery, the only way to make it better is to expand the section or write a new book on the forms of modern slavery, like the slave childs in Haiti and others.

What I did not like, not much actually, 5 stars

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Steven Payson

This is an excellent book that is a must-read for anyone interested in economics or in other fields of social science.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 4, 2018

Admittedly, from its title alone, I was hesitant at first to read this book, but in the end I was very glad I did. My initial hesitancy was for reasons that I suspect many others would have as well. First of all, from my limited knowledge of the subject of slavery (until I read the book, of course) I was inclined to look upon the topic as simply an obsolete area if inquiry. In addition, and with regard to the book’s implicit claim (from its title) that it will explain “how unfree labor pollutes the economy” I was inclined to be underwhelmed, believing (until I read the book) that such a claim is largely irrelevant simply from an ethical standpoint. That is, one could easily ask oneself, how could we even concern ourselves with the question of whether slavery pollutes—or is, in any more general sense, bad for—the economy when we already know and fully understand that slavery is morally reprehensible regardless of any positive economic effects that it might or might not have. In other words, why bother with the topic at all, we might ask, when we already agree that slavery must be outlawed, irrespective of any possible economic effects, positive or negative?
Yet, my initial reservations were wrong on both counts: the topic is not obsolete—quite the opposite in fact—and its economic effects are relevant to the task of eliminating slavery wherever it can be found. As the book clearly demonstrates, while slavery is obviously no longer as pervasive in human society as it had been in the past (with the exception of a few areas on the globe where it is still prominent) slavery is indeed a contemporary issue, and it continues to exist throughout the world today to a substantial (even though lesser) degree, as the book explains in detail. Unfortunately, as the book also discusses, slavery is allowed to exist in society, in many forms, regardless of the formal laws that have been written against it. In this sense, the book fits squarely within the context of a modern form of abolitionism.

In addition, the book presents a strong argument for our recognizing the relevance of slavery’s negative economic consequences, regardless of the universal agreement among nearly all nations that slavery is deplorable and must be eliminated. In particular, the author writes (pp. 233-34):

“[W]e must stop using moral indignation as the basis for public policy because it is just not enough ... To get the resources they need, modern abolitionists must make clear that slavery is both immoral and economically costly. Today, the moral case against slavery is ... essentially irrefutable, so neo-abolitionists should always preface their remarks by reminding people that slavery is, was, and shall forever be an abomination. Unfortunately, however, slavery’s moral bankruptcy is insufficient to stop enslavers from plying their dastardly craft, and also does not induce governments, or most of their citizens, to fight (i.e., expend resources) to eradicate them. Such folks need to be reminded that slavery is immoral but also told that the peculiar institution impoverishes everyone, including themselves. ... The notion that enslaving human beings could help the overall economy, as opposed to the much narrower claim that slavery merely pads the bank balances of enslavers, is pernicious because it appears to align the interests of enslavers with those of non-slaves. More importantly, the notion of slave-driven economic growth is simply empirically wrong. This is not to denigrate the arduous labor performed by slaves throughout history but rather to recognize that slavery, qua slavery, creates significant negative externalities (pollution), the costs of which are borne by the entire society/economy. Those costs vary over time and lace but exists wherever coercion exists and in direct proportion to the degree that workers are unfree.”

As an aside, the above passage serves as a good illustration of how well the book is written for a lay audience.

The book contains eight chapters. The first, entitled “Yet Another Half Untold,” provides a good introduction to the book and explains one of its main objective, which is to put to rest any false claims that slavery could be economically beneficial to a nation. The second chapter on “Various Degrees of Liberty” is fundamental in recognizing that slavery is not a simple yes-or-no condition, but that there is a continuum of degrees of slavery, or essentially a score that could be applied to how unfree an individual is. The scoring mechanism offered by the book is quite logical and applicable, involving factors associated with “direct methods of control” (e.g., whether there are physical restraints on the slave), “working conditions” (e.g., whether the slave is driven to work at a pace that impairs their physical well-being), and “personal life” (e.g., whether the slave may keep and control their own children, or even be allowed to have children). Chapters 3, entitled, “A Not So Peculiar Institution,” covers the history of slavery “from prehistoric times until the great emancipations of the nineteenth century” (p. 13), while the fourth chapter entitled “Slavery Resilient” covers the history of slavery thereafter, up until the present day. The fifth chapter, “That Which Is Seen: Enslavers’ Profits,” explains how slavery has been profitable for those who are enslavers, of course. The sixth and seventh chapters, “That Which Is Unseen: Slavery’s Pollution,” and “That Which Is Unseen: Slavery’s Hidden Costs,” covers the myriad of ways in which slavery has been economically detrimental to society overall, from the commodity of slaves substituting for other goods and services that people to desire, to the rebellions and wars that have resulted from slavery throughout human history. Finally, the eighth chapter on “Real Abolition” discusses modern efforts now underway to eliminate slavery on the planet, and what all individuals can, and should, do to promote the effort.

The economics in the book, which involves topics such as the markets for slaves, the productivity of slave labor, and especially the negative externalities of slavery (as just discussed) do not require a background in economics. Nevertheless, what is impressive for the economists (like myself) reading the book, is the incredible degree of thoroughness and thoughtfulness the author displays for covering every conceivable economic aspect of slavery. Such coverage varies from the economic decision by slave owners to kill their slaves (in societies where murdering slaves carries no effective penalties) whenever it is economically convenient for them to do so, to the disincentive of slave owners and their offspring to develop productive skills of their own, to the costs to the state for enforcing slavery at the bequest of, and for the protection of, slave owners, along with many other economic issues.

The existence of slavery today, in a variety of forms, is covered quite well in the book, providing information that economists certainly should know more about, as it has everything to do in economics at many levels, though the topic is rarely if ever mentioned in any economics courses. The book should therefore be on the reading list for all college courses on economic history, whether it be the economic history of a particular nation, or world economic history.

As an “economics book” the The Poverty of Slavery is a fantastic read and reference for economists and economics students. Having said this, I believe the book’s greatest contribution is its “reality check on humanity”—a feature of the book that would make it valuable to any reader, regardless of their interest in the field of economics. What I mean by this is that it conveys a truth about human history, and about humanity itself, that I suspect most people today (outside of history circles) do not fully recognize or appreciate. I found the book incredibly interesting in its description of the pervasiveness of slavery throughout human history, and how, until only relatively recently in human history, has slavery been shunned by most societies. This is, indeed, a book that will plant important seeds in the brain of anyone who ever taken an interest in subjects like human rights and social justice. It is an incredibly inspiring, and at the same time, sobering book, making us realize how far we have gone as human beings, and, more importantly, how far we still need to go, before we can dare to look upon our species with pride.

Dr. Steven Payson (economist and writer of economics books)

5 people found this helpful

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