Slave Prices and the South Carolina Economy, 1722–1809

Based on data from probate inventories we construct and analyze an annual time of slave prices for South Carolina from 1722 to 1809. Comparison of South slave prices with those in other parts of the Western Hemisphere and the between slave prices and slave imports indicate that while the long-run of slaves was highly elastic, over periods of one to two decades the supply was upward sloping. Comparison of our slave price series with an index of export prices indicates that labor productivity growth in agriculture was over the eighteenth century.