ENGLISH

The Ancient Economy

By M. I. Finley

Book information

Publisher
Univ Of Ca Press
Year
1974
ISBN
0520025644, 9780520025646
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
76 MB (79660086 bytes)
Edition
First Edition
Pages
222\219
Time added
2013-05-30 15:19:30

Description

"Technical progress, economic growth, productivity, even efficiency have not been significant goals since the beginning of time," declares M. I. Finley in his classic work. The states of the ancient Mediterranean world had no recognizable real-property market, never fought a commercially inspired war, witnessed no drive to capital formation, and assigned the management of many substantial enterprises to slaves and ex-slaves. In short, to study the economies of the ancient world, one must begin by discarding many premises that seemed self-evident before Finley showed that they were useless or misleading. Available again, with a new foreword by Ian Morris, these sagacious, fertile, and occasionally combative essays are just as electrifying today as when Finley first wrote them.

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