SLAVE INSURANCE AND PRICING IN NINETEENTH CENTURY BRAZILIAN SLAVE SOCIETY

Abstract

Over time, various instruments of diverse backgrounds have been instituted in capitalism. Life insurance is one of those. The paper analyses the history of two insurance companies which operated slave life insurances in Brazil. The objective is demonstrating that nineteenth century slavery was a business subject to shortcomings such as premature demise of slaves, and that regarding those a solution specific to the time was created, i. e., the insurance on captives’ natural demise.

Keywords:
Life insurance; slavery in Brazil; nineteenth century history.