A Few Comments on Certain Economic Matters

This chapter argues that the economic behavior of the people of the Slave Coast cannot be adequately explained by concepts drawn from market economics or from Marxism for that matter. Instead, concepts such as ‘moral economy’ and ‘ostentatious economy’ are pertinent. There may have existed a market-based sector, but it was severely controlled and not allowed to expand. The central question is what happened to the profit from the slave trade. The author argues that this profit was not, and could not be, invested in productive undertakings.