I have read the claim that enslavement implies lesser productivity. I have also heard Hoppe say that.
Where can I find that argument? Does either MES or HA include that argument?
Thanks.
I thought the Hoppean argument was that socialist slavery results in
From Human Action (pg. 630-631)
The price paid for the purchase of a slave is determined by the net yield expected from his employment… just as the price paid for a cow is determined by the net yield expected from its utilization. The owner of a slave does no pocket a specific revenue. For him there is no “exploitation” boon derived from the fact that the slave’s work is not remunerated…If men like cattle, one cannot squeeze out of them more than cattle-like performances. But then it becomes significant that man is physically weaker than oxen and horses, and that feeding and guarding a slave is, in proportion to the performace to be reaped, more expensive than feeding and guarding cattle… If one asks from an unfree laborer human performances, one must provide him with specifically human inducements.
(Also I’ve just finished Human Action! I’m working my way through Austrian Economics chronologically, I’ve gotten through much of Menger, Bawerk, Schumpter, von Wieser, some Hayek and some von Mises, if anyone can recommend the next big text, or author for me to read that would be much appreciated)
In other words, If I understand Mises correctly, assuming a free market in slaves, the cost of the Slave is still the DMVP (discounted marginal value product) like any other factor.
Talk about the virtue of the free market; even if slave trade was legal, the market will not allow you to economically benefit from it.