Thinking logically about slavery reparations

No one living in Britain can be compensated for that past existence of slavery or the slave trade.

This assertion depends upon a previous assertion, obviously. But, as is often so fun, we can take someone’s assertion and take it to be true and then see where that leads us.

So, one assertion out there is that it was slavery - or the slave trade perhaps - which made Britain rich. Therefore lots of lovely compo etc. Now, this assertion is easy to disprove - everywhere had slavery, everywhere didn’t become rich therefore slavery was not the cause of becoming rich. QED. But, as we say, assume that it did and where does this take us?

From such enlightened sources as Paul Krugman and Ha Joon Chang we learn that average wages in a society depend upon the average productivity of that society. The other way of saying the same thing is that wages are high in rich places, low in poor - and even the reverse is true, poor places are defined by low wages, rich by high. This is simply a statement about what it means for a place to be rich - or poor.

So, anyone living in a society made rich by slavery is themselves a beneficiary of slavery. For they’re gaining the high wages that come from living in a rich place. And yes, this really does work. A single adult on minimum wage for the normal work year in the UK is in the top 10% of all global incomes - yes adjusted for prices across geography. Also, before any benefits that might accrue, free health care and all the rest.

It is wholly impossible to compensate, with money, someone for having made them rich. Therefore no compensation - if there is to be any - for slavery can be paid to anyone resident in the United Kingdom. They have already been compensated by enjoying the high incomes of a place made rich by slavery.

So, who gets to point this out to Sir Lenworth? No, don’t all shout at once……

Tim Worstall

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