What are the economic arguments on abolition?

The same as the arguments you see today for living wages. The issue was that all these people are being economically productive, but have no capacity to consume the things they produce, since they don't receive any wages. So for one thing you have a problem with demand being depressed. read more

The merchants and planters warned that abolition would mean ruin for Britain, as the whole economy would collapse. This argument was put forward many times, for example, in 1749, when a pamphlet was written outlining these agruments. read more

The same as the arguments you see today for living wages. The issue was that all these people are being economically productive, but have no capacity to consume the things they produce, since they don't receive any wages. read more

Motivated by humanitarian concerns, the movement spread from Britain to other countries and gained a series of victories, culminating in the abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire in 1807, the abolition of slavery in the British West Indies in 1832, and the eventual extinction of slavery in the New World by 1882. read more