Americans were richer than even Brits back when they were still Brits
The American colonies led Great Britain in purchasing power per capita from 1700, and possibly from 1650, until 1774, even counting slaves in the population
The common view that American per capita income did not overtake that of Britain until the start of the 20th century appears to be off the mark by two centuries or longer.
This remark should leave a bad taste in one’s mouth. Obviously being immoral and exploiting human beings is an economic advantage. And excluding them in the census but benefitting from their work would be dehumanizing them even more.
It's an advantage for those doing the exploiting, but overall it's an economic disadvantage, if your per capita statistic includes the slaves when counting heads.
Yes, educating all people will generate a bigger advantage in total. What I meant was that an individual will obviously make more money for themselves if they have free labor that they can exploit. So a society of N educated people will make less money than one of N people + S enslaved people, but a society of N + S educated people would make even more.
The American colonies led Great Britain in purchasing power per capita from 1700, and possibly from 1650, until 1774, even counting slaves in the population
The common view that American per capita income did not overtake that of Britain until the start of the 20th century appears to be off the mark by two centuries or longer.
https://www.nber.org/papers/w19861