Slavery is profitable. People only stopped doing it when it was perceived as immoral.
Lots of things are profitable but immoral. People will do crazy immoral and illegal stuff for money, but we outlaw and slander the more abusive stuff, like monopolies and such.
If it wasn't pensions that were funding PE, I'm sure PEs would get a lot more criticism and would not be allowed to do what they do.
Misconception, slavery is not profitable if you do it in your own country with a massive base because those people aren't economically active and don't buy much with their non existing money. In fact many historians argue slavery ended due to capitalism, not morals.
Yes you can pick up cotton at a lower labor cost with slaves, but you can't charge the slaves rent, sell them useless clothes, tax them, etc.
Capitalists are selfish, and have short planning horizons. For a capitalist, slavery is absolutely rational. The only reason why they don't do it today is because it's illegal.
Which is why it was the pseudoaristocraric south which provided the main source of abolitionists and the first to abolish it. Is what I would say in opposite world.
Selfish capitalists want to accumulate capital and grow the economy. Slavery is a bad strategy for achieving these ends. There is ample historical evidence of this, and it also lines up with mainstream economic theory.
People who argue otherwise simply cannot escape their zero-sum worldview.
Lots of things are profitable but immoral. People will do crazy immoral and illegal stuff for money, but we outlaw and slander the more abusive stuff, like monopolies and such.
If it wasn't pensions that were funding PE, I'm sure PEs would get a lot more criticism and would not be allowed to do what they do.