Human capital and other determinants of the price life cycle of a slave: Peru and La Plata in the eighteenth century

Toward the end of the eighteenth century Spanish America had about 400,000 slaves, which made 3 percent of the population. Before this time the importance of slavery had been greater, having received a large stimulus because of the sharp demographic decline of the natives following the Conquest. The arrival of Africans meant that in 1650 the proportion of slaves to total population was from 5 to 10 percent. © 1996, The Economic History Association. All rights reserved.