<p> Abstract of paper for seminars at York University and University of Western Ontario, October 2003</p><p>THE ECONOMICS OF SLAVERY AND THE TRANSITION TO FREE LABOUR IN PRECOLONIAL WEST AFRICA: AN ASANTE (GHANA) CASE-STUDY, 1807-C.19501</p><p>Gareth Austin Department of Economic History, London School of Economics</p><p>This paper is intended to contribute to the comparative study of the economics of slavery and of its decline, within West Africa and more broadly. It examines the case of Asante (Ashanti), one of the major kingdoms of pre-colonial West Africa, which during the colonial period rapidly became a major contributor to Ghana’s status as the world’s largest producer of cocoa beans. The paper has three sections. The first is descriptive. It outlines the institution, growth, and economic applications of slavery in the nineteenth century, during which Asante’s major exports were gold, kola nuts and, latterly, rubber. The section goes on to the colonial period (which began with British occupation in 1896), noting that slavery was not prohibited until1908, and tracing its supersession on the ground by hired labour. The second section analyses the economics and political economy of slavery in pre-colonial Asante as a test of the Nieboer hypothesis, according to which slavery was a response to abundance of land in relation to labour. An (admittedly crude) attempt is made to quantity the cost of slave compared to free labour. From this and from qualitative evidence, the Nieboer hypothesis is not only upheld, but supported in its most demanding version (Domar’s): that slavery not merely reduced the supply price of labour, but that without coercion no labour market of any sort would have been possible in the prevailing conditions. The third section examines the subsequent decline of slavery in relation to the hypothesis of induced institutional innovation. It is clear that, contrary to this hypothesis, the delayed British decision to prohibit slavery was not a response to a shift in relative factor prices. On the other hand, the ‘induced innovation’ approach offers insight into the decline of slave labour in practice as opposed to in law: for, with the adoption of cocoa cultivation, Asante masters were able to afford to become employers. Finally, the paper reflects on the significance of the Asante experience for wider understandings of the history of slavery. Emphasis is put on the role of the state – pre- colonial and colonial – in securing for Asante producers monopolistic possession of commercially-valuable natural resources, an asset which underpinned their ability to finance the importation of extra-household labour: first to buy slaves, later to hire free migrant workers.</p><p>1 The paper is based on my book manuscript (G. Austin, Land, Labour and Capital in Ghana: From Slavery to Free Labour in Asante, 1807-1956, University of Rochester Press, forthcoming 2004), and also represents a tentative step towards a comparative study.</p>