Time on the Cross: The Economics of American Negro Slavery
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Time on the Cross: The Economics of American Negro Slavery, by Robert Fogel and Stanley Engerman, is a controversial work that uses cliometrics (statistical analysis applied to economic history) to argue that slavery in the American South was a profitable enterprise. The authors contended that slavery was not economically inefficient and that its collapse was due to political, rather than economic, reasons. This conclusion sparked significant debate, with critics questioning the methodology and the moral implications of attributing profit-maximizing motives to slaveholders. Fogel later clarified his research in Without Consent or Contract: The Rise and Fall of American Slavery, including a moral condemnation of slavery.123
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