Slavery and Supervision in Comparative Perspective: A Model

B-Tier
Journal: Journal of Economic History
Year: 1984
Volume: 44
Issue: 3
Pages: 635-668

Score contribution per author:

2.018 = (α=2.02 / 1 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

The familiar transaction-costs model is extended to allow for the varying costs and benefits of supervision and pain incentives on the one hand, and ordinary rewards on the other, in differentially effort- and care-intensive activities. Applied to unfree labor, this model accounts for the observed patterns of slave governance and manumission in extractive, industrial, agricultural, and service activities in antiquity and in the New World. Applied to free labor, it accounts for wage work on large estates in labor-surplus medieval England or modern Italy, the choice between bonuses and penalties in industrial contracts, and the growing paternalism of our own time.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:cup:jechis:v:44:y:1984:i:03:p:635-668_03
Journal Field
Economic History
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-25