Entrepreneurship in Pre-War South Carolina: A Case of Southern Corporate Capitalism
Posted: 7 Nov 2006
Date Written: November 5, 2006
Abstract
Before the Civil War a portion of South Carolina's economy was "capitalist" in the sense that entrepreneurs and other business firms relied on capital markets to supply their external financing needs. Antebellum South Carolina was home to all the major components of corporate capitalism, including investors, banks, securities markets, and entrepreneur-borrowers, including numerous business corporations. That finding accords with those of several recent historians of antebellum Virginia and South Carolina and suggests that a form of Southern capitalism coexisted with the region's much more intensively studied slave economy.
Keywords: South Carolina, corporate capitalism, entrepreneurs, American South
JEL Classification: N22, N62
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation