The political economy of Indian indentured labour in the 19th century

Hui, N. and Kambhampati, U. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5906-2394 (2025) The political economy of Indian indentured labour in the 19th century. Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 47 (2). pp. 141-163. ISSN 1053-8372 doi: 10.1017/S105383722400018X

Abstract/Summary

Abolition of slavery in British Colonies led to the facilitation of Indian indentured migration by the British Government. This form of migration came about when the discourse of economic freedom and individual liberty strongly resonated in British political-economy circles, following the work of Adam Smith and J S Mill. We analyse how unfreedom in indentured labour was rationalised when the rhetoric of freedom was essential to the dominant intellectual milieu. We consider why free labour was deemed unfeasible in the plantation colonies. We also consider the constraints that asymmetric information and bargaining posed to freedom within the institution of indenture. We conclude that indenture represented an uneasy compromise between the problems of slavery and the unattainable goal of free labour.