ECON 2200E Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Marginal Revenue Productivity Theory Of Wages, Cotton Gin, Fugitive Slaves In The United States

• School: University of Georgia
• Department: Economics
• Course: ECON 2200E
• Professor: Jason Rudbeck

Document Summary

President james monroe signed the missouri compromise, and states became added to the union in pairs- one slaver per one free. Compromise of 1850 aimed to resolve conflict over which states entered as slave states versus free. Fugitive slave act- required that all runaway slaves be returned to their masters. Much demand for abolishing slavery came from white, working-class men who did not want to compete with slaves, feeling they drove wages down. As real incomes rose in the us and britain, and cotton was a normal good, consumer demand for it grew significantly: when price of cotton went up, demand for slaves went up. As the probability that the government may seize an input increases, the expected future profit to the firm decreases, decreasing the demand for that input. Technological advancement in the cotton production increased the marginal productivity of each slave.