Two sidelights, though. Hinton Rowan Helper advanced many of the arguments expressed here about slavery in his 1857 book, The Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet It. His book was banned in many states and regarded as a provocation not far short of John Brown's.
In 1974, Fogel and Engelman's perverse book Time on the Cross: The Economics of American Negro Slavery, advanced the revisionist argument that slavery was profitable. It was a very controversial, counterintuitive argument that provoked endless discussion, as did Fogel's earlier book on Railroads and American Economic Growth.
It seems obvious to all that slavery is indeed incompatible with advanced economic development. A servile population, denied mobility and the proceeds of its own increased productivity clearly seems to be incompatible with a dynamic, high technology economy. But the point in the course of economic development at which this becomes true is unclear. And it's worth noting that there has been some debate about the economic success of slavery.