Quotation of the Day…

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… is from pages 191-192 of my GMU Econ colleague Mark Koyama’s, and his co-author Jared Rubin’s, superb 2022 book, How the World Became Rich (references omitted; links added):

In fact, the existence of slavery slowed Southern industrialization and urbanization. Southern elites held their wealth primarily in the form of slaves. Investing in slaves was profitable, and it took resources away from other, industrial, pursuits. This limited local market size, making industrial production all the less attractive. As [John] Majewski notes, “slavery severely limited the size of markets for southern manufacturers. Cities such as Richmond, Norfolk, and Charleston, serving sparsely populated hinterlands, lagged behind northern rivals. The southern economy certainly generated substantial profits for the region’s many planters and farmers, but slower growth of cities, industry, and population created a sense of relative decline.”