ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews a hypothesis regarding the causes of agricultural serfdom or slavery. The abolition of slavery is clearly in the national interest, but not necessarily in the interest of an individual slave owner motivated by his profit and not by patriotic sentiment. In a traditional society without technological progress and capital accumulation, the end of slavery is, paradoxically, more certain. It is possible that even in a Malthusian society slavery may linger on. As population continues to increase and the society eventually becomes Malthusian, the marginal product of labor descends to the subsistence level. The free man costs little more to employ than the slave, while, hopefully, being less bothersome and more productive. Besides social and political objections, there must have been economic reasons why Negro slaves had a comparative advantage in the South as contrasted with the North.
