Caribbean sugar mills were powered by water, animals, wind, or steam, yet the evidence indicates major differences between islands in terms of which mill type predominated. We suggest that windmills offered few, if any, advantages over animal mills and several serious disadvantages. Why, then, were so many windmills built during the eighteenth century on some of the islands of the eastern Caribbean and so few on others? Here, we draw on Costly Signaling Theory to help explain these patterns. The preference for windmill-building may have had less to do with functional requirements or economic efficiency than with cultural competition, the signaling of membership of the planter class, and the display of power throughout the plantation landscape.

加勒比糖厂由水、动物、风或蒸汽驱动，但证据表明岛屿之间在哪种糖厂类型占主导地位方面存在重大差异。我们认为，与动物磨坊相比，风车几乎没有什么优势，但也有几个严重的缺点。那么，为什么 18 世纪在东加勒比海的一些岛屿上建造了这么多风车，而在其他岛屿上建造的风车却很少呢？在这里，我们利用代价高昂的信号理论来帮助解释这些模式。对风车建造的偏好可能与功能要求或经济效率的关系不大，而与文化竞争、种植园成员身份的信号以及整个种植园景观中的权力展示有关。