Adam Ozimek

@ModeledBehavior Poorer, weaker, and smaller.

@SethBurn how? Our income today is our labor, capital, laws, and institutions. Which would be weakened?

@ModeledBehavior The issue is the staggering amount of production lost from 1765 (or 1776 if you prefer) through 1865.

@SethBurn that's productivity that's long gone, why would it matter today? Plus, you think free people are less productive?

@ModeledBehavior If I recall correctly, http://www.amazon.com/Things-They-Dont-About-Capitalism/dp/1608193381 … looked at this counterfactual via England. 1% of GDP over 60 years.

@SethBurn don't usually find Ha-Joon Chang convincing, but ok interesting to know he tried this

@ModeledBehavior In this case it wasn't rhetoric, but actual data. England really did ban slavery. :)

@SethBurn and is he saying that today he's attributing the income diff between us and them to slavery?