SELECTION IN THE MARKET FOR SLAVES - NEW-ORLEANS, 1830-1860

Greenwald and Glasspiegel argue that adverse selection depressed the m arket prices of slaves, causing current researchers to overestimate th e rate of return from slavery. In this paper we test for the presence of adverse selection by comparing the prices of local slaves with the prices of slaves sold from estate sales. We find no difference in the prices of these slaves, from which we conclude that there was no signi ficant adverse selection in the market. Instead, we propose an alterna tive explanation for the observed pattern of slave prices based on the costs of shipping slaves to the New Orleans market.