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… is from page 29 of Eamonn Butler’s 2022 book, An Introduction to Economic Inequality [2]:
The traditional explanations of global inequality are also both familiar and questionable. Colonialism and slavery are suggested, though colonies imposed costs on the occupying powers as well as delivering them benefits. Slavery, as Adam Smith noted, was not only morally offensive but bad economics too.
DBx: Slavers and slaveowners, of course, benefitted from slavery, just as successful thieves benefit from thievery. But just as society’s overall wealth is reduced by thievery, society’s overall wealth is reduced by slavery.