Slavery Was Not the Difference: How Legal Innovations Made America a Superpower While Brazil Stagnated

Tags: Capitalism, U.S. Economy, U.S. History

09/17/2026 Lipton Matthews

Both Brazil and the US had slavery in the 1800s, but the US economy flourished while Brazil’s languished. If slavery was the engine for US economic growth, as leftists claim, then why didn’t Brazil’s economy match that of the US?

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/slavery-was-not-difference-how-legal-innovations-made-america-superpower-while-brazil-stagnated

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