Estimates of Slave Prices, Trader Income, and Alternative Labor Comparisons
Using an admittedly limited set of data from Ulrich Phillips (includes market data from Richmond, Charleston, mid-Georgia, and Louisiana), Robert Evans, Jr. estimates that the average differential between slave prices in the Upper South and Deep South markets from 1830-1835 was $232. Although this differential only deals with price and doesn’t account for transport costs and other operating costs (e.g. clothing, medical costs), the price gap displays a potential arbitrage opportunity (assuming costs were low enough).
In fact, Evans suggests that interstate slave traders received a wage greater than that of an alternative profession in skilled mechanical trades. If skilled mechanical trades can be considered a reasonable alternative occupation for slave traders, then it appears that interregional slave traders are made better off, at least in monetary terms.
However, if slave traders possessed skills similar to those used in supervisory mechanics (e.g. skills used by a chief engineer), then slave traders received an income that was not greater than the one they would have received had they entered in an alternative profession. Nevertheless, it can probably be assumed that this was not the case with the majority of slave traders; we can reasonably assume that most traders did not possess the skills of a railroad president or chief engineer.
Read more about this topic: Interregional Slave Trade, Economics of The Interregional Slave Trade
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