Resumo
Este artigo reescreve a história dos Estados Unidos antes da Guerra Civil, tomando por base quatro fases de sua história financeira. Essas fases mapeiam os ciclos cambiantes de boom and bust, movidos pelos anseios dos empresários em expandir a escravidão por meio de um sistema financeiro inovador e desregulado. A habilidade dos escravizadores em usar o Estado para formar os mercados, extrair rendas, subscrever os fluxos de crédito da comunidade mundial de investidores e socializar as perdas, ao mesmo tempo em que aumentavam constantemente a produtividade da escravidão nos campos de algodão, foi a força motora que ditou a expansão mais ampla economia norte-americana e suas crises periódicas.
Palavras-chave:
Estados Unidos; escravidão; história financeira
Abstract
This article rewrites the history of the Antebellum United States around the four phases of its financial history. These phases map out changing boom-and-bust cycles, driven by the entrepreneurs' desire to create innovative and deregulated financing of the expansion of slavery. The ability of enslavers to use the state to create markets, extract rents, underwrite credit flows from the worldwide community of investors, and socialize losses was the main driving force for the broader expansion of the U.S. economy and for its periodic crises as well.
Keywords:
United States; slavery; financial history
Texto completo disponível apenas em PDF.
Full text available only in PDF format.
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Leitores vêm ignorando essa realidade extraordinária há mais de um século. Ao longo dos últimos duzentos anos, na verdade, de Adam Smith ou Frederick Law Olmstead à maioria dos historiadores modernos, analistas têm afirmado que a produção agrícola de escravos era menos eficiente que a produção de trabalhadores livres. Mesmo aqueles que mediram a agricultura escravista, como Robert Fogel, que percebeu que as fazendas de algodão eram mais produtivas quando comparadas às fazendas do norte livre, apontaram para o motivo errado. FOGEL, Robert. Without Consent or Contract. New York: Norton, 1989. p.72-80; OLSON, John. Clock Time Versus Real Time: A Comparison of the Lengths of the Northern and Southern Agricultural Work Years. In: FOGEL, Robert W.; ENGERMAN, Stanley L. (org.). Without Consent or Contract: The Rise and Fall of American Slavery. Markets and Production: Technical Papers Volume I. New York: Norton, 1991. p.216-240; FOGEL, Robert W. ; ENGERMAN, Stanley L. Explaining the Relative Efficiency of Slave Agriculture in the Antebellum South. American Economic Review, n.67, p.275-296, 1977; METZER, Jacob. Rational Management, Modern Business Practices, and Economies of Scale in Antebellum Southern Plantations. Explorations in Economic History, n.12, p.123150, 1975.
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NORTHUP, Solomon. Op. Cit., p.308. Eu adaptei os dialetos mais estereotipados.
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Tradução: Leonardo Marques
Datas de Publicação
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Publicação nesta coleção
Jun 2013
Histórico
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Recebido
01 Abr 2013 -
Aceito
30 Abr 2013