economic theory (Greek)

economic theory (Greek)
It is a commonplace that the Greek philosophers had no economic theory. Three reasons are advanced for this absence:

    (1) the merely embryonic existence of the relevant institutions, especially the market;

    (2) aristocratic disdain for trade and exchange;

    (3) the priority assigned to ethical concerns over technical considerations of exchange and accumulation. While each of these claims contains some truth, the third assumes a modern conception of the autonomy of economics against which ancient theory may make a pertinent challenge.



Plato's discussion of the market is sketchy. The Republic describes the creation of a market in the ‘first city’; money (see coinage, Greek) will be used for internal exchange, and barter for foreign trade. In the Ideal City the lowest class, ruled by bodily appetites, is also called the...

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