Appendix A - Nominal and real slave prices using international price indexes

Summary

The absence of a general price index for nineteenth-century Cuba makes it impossible to convert slave prices from nominal to “real” prices adjusted for inflation with precision. However, price indexes are available for the United States, Great Britain, and Spain, Cuba's major trading partners. These data have been used to convert Cuban nominal prices for all slaves between fifteen and forty years of age to three separate yearly Cuban “real” slave price indexes which are indicated graphically in Figures A.1, A.2, and A.3.

The “real” price indexes were derived in the following manner: First, Cuban nominal slave prices were converted to indexes with 1850 equal to 100. This was done by dividing the nominal prices in all years by the 1850 price. Second, the U.S., British, and Spanish indexes were converted to 1850 = 100 separately by dividing all of the yearly index numbers in each series by the 1850 index in that series. Third, Cuban “real” slave price indexes were created by dividing the yearly Cuban nominal price index numbers by the index number of the same year (with 1850 = 100) for each of the three national price index lists. These are indicated in Table A.1.

Trends in the “real” price indexes indicated in Figures A.1, A.2, and A.3 demonstrate that the long term tendencies of prime-age slave prices in Cuban nominal values were reflective of real price movements and not the result of inflationary or deflationary pressures.