Timeline for Were slave plantations economically superior or inferior to plantations with paid labor?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
21 events
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| Jul 24 at 17:21 | answer | added | Brian Z | timeline score: 0 | |
| Jul 24 at 15:49 | answer | added | CWill | timeline score: -3 | |
| Jun 17, 2023 at 14:17 | comment | added | Dan R. | Marx wasn't the only one. Adam Smith said in The Wealth Of Nations (18th century), "The experience of all ages and nations, I believe, demonstrates that the work done by slaves, though it appears to cost only their maintenance, is in the end the dearest [costliest] of any." You can read his full reasoning here: gutenberg.org/cache/epub/3300/pg3300-images.html | |
| Jun 17, 2020 at 9:02 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
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| Feb 4, 2019 at 21:00 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackHistory/status/1092528384318627842 | ||
| Feb 1, 2019 at 2:26 | answer | added | Alexander Barhavin | timeline score: 4 | |
| Jan 30, 2019 at 6:36 | comment | added | rs.29 | @BenCrowell I would disagree, after all even in this age owners of the company mostly care about their own profit, not about some metaphysical "good of society". My question is simple: you have Mr Evil Bastard as plantation owner, he is not for or against slavery, he only cares about profit. What system (slavery system as before civil war , or wage system as after the war ) would benefit more his goal to earn more money ? | |
| Jan 30, 2019 at 6:03 | comment | added | user2848 | @rs.29: You seem to be providing a clarification of your definition of the question. I wasn't complaining about the clarity of the question. I was complaining that it's the wrong question to ask. It can be simultaneously true that (a) a slave labor system is more profitable for the owner than a wage labor system, and (b) a slave labor system is economically inferior to a wage labor system. | |
| Jan 29, 2019 at 6:43 | comment | added | rs.29 | @BenCrowell You have 1 plantation and x slaves. After all costs are subtracted (like slave upkeep, cost of seeds etc ...) is there any profit left and how much is it ? Then take same plantation and y hired hands (those needed to effectively replace slaves) . Again calculate the profits and compare with previous case. | |
| Jan 29, 2019 at 2:03 | comment | added | user2848 | "Economically superior" is not the same thing as "profitable." In an economically superior social system, investments give high returns, GDP grows rapidly, and everybody gets exponentially fatter and happier. The profitability of a plantation only measures whether the owner of the plantation is getting a high return. As a simpler example, we could measure whether burglary is profitable -- it probably does give a high return on investment. But that doesn't mean that a society prospers if everyone turns to burglary. Workers paid in cash go out and buy things, which is good for the economy. | |
| Jan 28, 2019 at 8:24 | comment | added | rs.29 | @MarkC.Wallace Yes, I have found tons of studies clamming that slavery was profitable (no surprise there) , although as you can see from the links I added Marx claimed otherwise. I'm actually interested in comparison of profitability between slave based plantations, and plantations with payed labor. | |
| Jan 28, 2019 at 8:21 | comment | added | rs.29 | I decided to forgo Plekhanov because I found some quotes from Marx himself. Basically, it all goes to the same conclusion that slavery was economically obsolete, and that Northern capitalist wanted to introduce their system to the South . | |
| Jan 28, 2019 at 8:18 | history | edited | rs.29 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jan 28, 2019 at 3:38 | answer | added | Jos | timeline score: 0 | |
| Jan 28, 2019 at 3:07 | history | protected | sempaiscuba | ||
| Jan 28, 2019 at 2:54 | answer | added | DBWeinstein | timeline score: 1 | |
| Jan 27, 2019 at 22:14 | history | edited | MCW♦ | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jan 27, 2019 at 22:02 | comment | added | Solar Mike | @rs.29 so you have the only printed copy and no-one else can do a translation .... post the correct references... | |
| Jan 27, 2019 at 21:18 | comment | added | rs.29 | @sempaiscuba Mostly Georgi Plekhanov (and some others), but I'm afraid I cannot quote because the text is not in electronic form and not in English. | |
| Jan 27, 2019 at 21:16 | comment | added | sempaiscuba | 'According to certain Marxist authors' ...? It's generally better to actually name one or more specific authors (and ideally cite them using a quote from one or more of their works to support the assertion). | |
| Jan 27, 2019 at 21:10 | history | asked | rs.29 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |