Child Slavery and the Global Economy: Historical Perspectives on a Contemporary Problem

Abstract

This chapter historically recounts the introduction of slavery to the United States and ties this account to modern day slavery. It may be true that the number of people enslaved today represents the lowest proportion in world history, modern slavery still represents a grave, global crisis. First, slavery's survival amounts to a gross violation of human rights that jeopardizes the lives and well-being of millions of children. Secondly, slavery remains a drag on economic growth in the global south. First, the persistence of slavery keeps the wages of free workers low; low disposable income in turn drives down per capita consumption; this results in dwindling revenues for local businesses and limits the prospects for likely entrepreneurs. Consequently, the millions of people living on less than two dollars a day continues to grow, as does the amount of children, who if not enslaved, work long hours for little pay. This ghastly fact helps explain the pervasive market share and profitability of multi-national corporations like Nike, who relocate production sites to the global south to take advantage of cheap child labor. This notwithstanding the fact that Nike, like most multi-nationals, originated in nations like the United States, which have banned child labor as an institution repulsive to the standards of modern civilization. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)