Publications [#289137] of William A. Darity

Journal Articles

1. Darity, W, Profitability of the British trade in slaves once again, Explorations in Economic History, vol. 26 no. 3 (July, 1989), pp. 380-384, Elsevier BV, ISSN 0014-4983 [doi]
   (last updated on 2024/04/19)

   Abstract:
   While useful in its presentation of factual detail about survival costs for slaves during the middle passage on British ships engaged in the slave trade, David Richardson's recent paper is misleading with respect to its implications for the profitability of the British slave trade in the period 1761-1807. Richardson ignores the implicit revision in the profitability estimates required in Anstey's work based upon the latter's own acceptance of higher volume estimates of the trade. Anstey's accounting formula for slave trade profitability already included an adjustment for middle passage mortality costs. Moreover, provisional estimates of the typical rate of profit for 18th-century British enterprises advanced by Mirowski suggest that it Richardson is correct the slave traders must have been irrational in the sense that they participated in a line of activity with a lower than normal rate of return and a higher level of risk. © 1989.