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Servants of two masters: The economics of ‘slave-hiring’

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  • Piano, Ennio E.
  • Alvarez, Sean-Patrick

Abstract

We explore the economics of ‘slave-hiring’ in the antebellum U.S. South. We argue that the threat of excessive violence against enslaved employees increased the cost of transferring temporary property rights from masters to hirers, implying systematic differences in the prevalence of slave-hiring across industries. Slave-hirers will tend to be underrepresented in industries that rely more heavily on force as a motivational tool, compared to industries that instead employ positive incentives. Our analysis combines qualitative historical insights with quantitative evidence from the ‘Free’ and ‘Slave Schedules’ of the 1860 U.S. Census for Fauquier County, VA. We find that among slaveholders, farmers were approximately 30 percentage points less likely to hire enslaved workers than those in the crafts. This effect persists when we control for slaveholder characteristics and the month in which the information was collected. Our findings shed light on a key institution of the antebellum Southern economy and how slavery was able to adapt and thrive in urban settings. They also provide indirect evidence of James Scott’s hypothesis that agriculture is especially suited to exploitative labor practices.

Suggested Citation

  • Piano, Ennio E. & Alvarez, Sean-Patrick, 2025. "Servants of two masters: The economics of ‘slave-hiring’," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:180:y:2025:i:c:s0014292125002351
    DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2025.105185
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    JEL classification:

    • D23 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
    • K13 - Law and Economics - - Basic Areas of Law - - - Tort Law and Product Liability; Forensic Economics
    • N31 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913

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