This article evaluates the high-profile claim that enslaved African-Americans produced over 50 percent of US national product in the pre-Civil War period. The accounting exercise shows the fraction was closer to (and indeed likely slightly below) the share of the population, that is, about 12.6 percent in 1860. The enslaved population had higher rates of labor force participation, but they were also forced to work in sectors–agriculture and domestic service—with below average output per worker. The economic surplus generated by the enslaved was due chiefly to the low value of the very basic consumption bundle provided rather than to exceptionally high values of production per capita.

本文评估了一种备受瞩目的说法，即内战前时期美国国民生产总值的 50% 以上是由被奴役的非裔美国人生产的。会计工作显示，这一比例更接近（实际上可能略低于）人口比例，即 1860 年的 12.6% 左右。被奴役人口的劳动力参与率较高，但他们也被迫在农业和家庭服务业等部门的人均产出低于平均水平。被奴役者产生的经济剩余主要是由于所提供的基本消费组合的价值较低，而不是由于人均生产价值极高。