In terms of the slave's subjective value scale, slavery is clearly detrimental. The state of slavery is not one that was voluntarily chosen by the slave, and therefore it is by definition less desirable than other alternatives on his or her value scale. Just as advocates of other interventionist policies have sought to pretend that those policies were accepted peacefully and voluntarily (pp. 4.11:6-10), some observers even today seek to perpetuate the myth that slavery in the ante-bellum South was really a benevolent institution, because the masters allegedly looked after the best interests of the slaves. Yet if the practice had truly been benevolent, then it would have been unnecessary for slave traders to seize their victims by force, or for governments to pass laws providing for the return of runaways.

How then does the slave function under such compulsion?

1. Although the slave is allotted minimal items (such as food and clothing) for sustenance, that allotment bears no necessary relationship to the slave's labor and thus cannot be considered to constitute a marginal return on that labor. Hence the slave's labor is essentially uncompensated, and in order to minimize the disutility of labor, he or she maximizes utility by seeking to shirk assigned tasks. Slaves can therefore be expected to become skillful at feigning illness, weakness, and stupidity for the overseer (). The overseer, on the other hand, will have to be reluctant to judge behavior as malingering and to punish the slave, since a mistaken judgment could damage the slave, regarded as a valuable good.