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Theoretical foundations of the economics of slavery : Enslaved people as capital investments in the Atlantic world

Green, Erik LU and Martins, Igor LU orcid (2026) In Journal of Global History 21(1). p.22-40
Abstract
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... (More)
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 recognizing enslaved people as both sources of labour and capital investment. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Journal of Global History
volume
21
issue
1
article number
1
pages
18 pages
publisher
Cambridge University Press
ISSN
1740-0228
DOI
10.1017/S1740022825100296
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
cfa123f4-560c-4f7a-ac51-29b31f55676c
date added to LUP
2026-09-01 08:46:09
date last changed
2026-09-01 10:18:57
@article{cfa123f4-560c-4f7a-ac51-29b31f55676c,
  abstract     = {{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 recognizing enslaved people as both sources of labour and capital investment.}},
  author       = {{Green, Erik and Martins, Igor}},
  issn         = {{1740-0228}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{22--40}},
  publisher    = {{Cambridge University Press}},
  series       = {{Journal of Global History}},
  title        = {{Theoretical foundations of the economics of slavery : Enslaved people as capital investments in the Atlantic world}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1740022825100296}},
  doi          = {{10.1017/S1740022825100296}},
  volume       = {{21}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}