Ancient Economic Thought: Unlocking the Economic Wisdom of the Ancients

By Fouad Sabry

What is Ancient Economic Thought

The term "ancient economic thought" is used to describe the concepts that were prevalent among individuals before to the Middle Ages in the history of economic philosophy.

How you will benefit

(I) Insights, and validations about the following topics:

Chapter 1: Ancient economic thought

Chapter 2: Carl Menger

Chapter 3: Economics

Chapter 4: Political philosophy

Chapter 5: Léon Walras

Chapter 6: Index of economics articles

Chapter 7: Islamic economics

Chapter 8: Ibn Khaldun

Chapter 9: Classical economics

Chapter 10: Arthashastra

Chapter 11: Oeconomicus

Chapter 12: History of Islamic economics

Chapter 13: History of economic thought

Chapter 14: Schools of economic thought

Chapter 15: Muqaddimah

Chapter 16: History of political thought

Chapter 17: Aristotle

Chapter 18: Economic history of the world

Chapter 19: Economics (Aristotle)

Chapter 20: Perspectives on capitalism by school of thought

Chapter 21: Avicenna

(II) Answering the public top questions about ancient economic thought.

(III) Real world examples for the usage of ancient economic thought in many fields.

Who this book is for

Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of Ancient Economic Thought.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Billion Knowledgeable
• Release date: Feb 1, 2024

Book preview

Chapter 1: Ancient economic thought

Ancient economic philosophy refers to the thoughts of those who lived before the Middle Ages.

In the current perspective, economics in the classical period is described as an element of ethics and politics; it did not become an independent field of study until the 18th century.

Code of Ur-Nammu, 2100-2050 BC.

The upper part of the stele of Hammurabi's code of laws.

In the oldest civilizations of the fertile crescent, economic structure was motivated by the need to effectively cultivate crops in river basins. In the Euphrates and Nile basins, the first evidence of regulated measures written in base 60 and Egyptian fractions were discovered.

In the Heqanakht papyri, Egyptian custodians of royal granaries and absent Egyptian landowners are recorded. The principal accounting instrument for agricultural cultures, the scales used to measure grain stock, had dual religious and ethical symbolism, according to historians of this time period.

The Erlenmeyer tablets depict Sumerian production in the Euphrates Valley between 2200 and 2100 B.C. They demonstrate a knowledge of the link between grain and labor inputs (measured in female labor days) and outputs, as well as a focus on efficiency. Egyptians assessed productivity in terms of man-days. During the Babylonian and Egyptian empires, complex economic management continued to evolve in the Euphrates and Nile valleys as trade units and monetary systems expanded across the Near East. The usage and variety of Egyptian fractions and base-60 monetary units were spread to Greek, early Islamic, and medieval civilizations. In 1202, Fibonacci's use of zero and Vedic-Islamic numerals inspired Europeans to employ zero as an exponent, resulting in the development of modern decimals 350 years later.

The city-states of Sumer developed a trade and market economy initially based on the commodity money of the Shekel, which was a certain weight measure of barley, whereas the Babylonians and their city-state neighbors later developed the earliest system of economics using a metric of various commodities, which was fixed by a legal code. Babylonian law is a summary of the statutes.

The codex of Ur-Nammu, king of Ur (approximately 2050 B.C. ), the laws of Eshnunna (approximately 1930 B.C. ), and the codex of Lipit-Ishtar of Isin (approximately 2100 B.C.) are examples of earlier collections of (written) laws that could also be considered economic law regulations for their cities (c. 1870 BC).

Some scholars assert that economic thought comparable to the modern understanding emerged during the 18th century or the Enlightenment, as early economic thought was founded on metaphysical principles that are incommensurable with contemporary dominant economic theories such as neoclassical economics.

... Through hard labour, men amass flocks and wealth.

— Hesiod

Xenophon, Greek historian

In Xenophon's writings, the effect of Babylonian and Persian ideas on Greek administrative economics is evident. In particular, his Oeconomicus, Cyropaedia, Hiero, and Ways and Means include discussions on economic ideas.

Nomoi, Politeia, and Politikos are Plato's writings regarded to be the most significant for economics study (Backhaus).

Plato (left) and Aristotle (right), a detail of The School of Athens, a fresco by Raphael.

Aristotle is holding a copy of his Nicomachean Ethics.

As a criticism of Plato's promotion of a ruling class of philosopher-kings, Aristotle's Politics (about 350 BCE) analyzed the many types of governance (monarchy, aristocracy, constitutional government, tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy). Plato drew a design of a society based on the common ownership of resources, which was particularly useful for economists. This paradigm was deemed oligarchical by Aristotle. In Book II, Part V of Politics, he maintained that:

In a certain sense, property should be shared, but in general, it should be private; because when everyone has a separate interest, men will not complain of one another, and they will make greater progress since everyone will be attending to his or her own work... In addition, the greatest satisfaction comes from providing a favor or service to one's friends, visitors, or companions, which is only possible when a person possesses private property. These benefits are lost as a result of excessive state unification.

Aristotle saw the allocation of limited resources as a moral matter. In Politics (book I), he also said that consuming was the purpose of production, the excess should be devoted to childrearing, and personal satiety should be the natural limit of consumption. (To Aristotle, the matter was a moral one: in his period infant mortality was high). Aristotle used the terms natural and unnatural in dealings. Natural transactions were tied to the fulfilment of wants and generated riches whose amount was constrained by the function they provided.

Later, in Politics VII, Chapter 1, Aristotle argues:

External commodities have a limit, just like every other tool has, and all beneficial things are of such a type that if there is too much of them, they must either injure their possessors or be of no use to them.

Some have interpreted this as embodying a notion of declining marginal utility, however there has been much controversy about the evolution and relevance of marginal utility concerns in Aristotle's value theory. This work formulates an ordinal hierarchy of values, which subsequently emerged in Maslow's motivation theory contribution.

The Nicomachean Ethics, namely book V.v, has been described as the most economically provocative analytic work in ancient Greece.

The law of ancient Greece and Judaism adheres to the voluntaristic notion of reasonable trade; parties were held to their agreements only after the moment of sale. Recognizing that planning and commitments across time are vital for effective production and commerce, Roman law invented the contract. Justinian, who reigned as emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire from 526 to 565, compiled the Corpus Juris Civilis during the 530s.

Taxation and ripened fruits

As one picks ripe fruit from a garden, so should the monarch choose ripe fruit from his realm. Fearing for his own demise, he should avoid immature ones, which give birth to rebellions.

—Stocking the Treasury, Arthashastra 5.2.70

Chanakya (about 350 B.C. - 275 B.C.) studied economic matters. He was a political science professor at the ancient Indian Takshashila University and afterwards the prime minister of the Mauryan emperor Chandragupta Maurya. He composed the Arthashastra (Sanskrit for Science of Material Gain or Science of Political Economy). Arthashastra's debates on the administration of an efficient and stable economy and the ethics of economics are still widespread in contemporary economics. Chanakya also focuses on welfare concerns (such as income redistribution during a famine) and the social ethics that keep a community together.

In agriculture, animal husbandry, forest products, mining, manufacturing, and commerce, private industry and state enterprise regularly competed alongside one another in the Arthashastra.

The importance of law, economy, and governance

सुखस्य मूलं धर्मः । धर्मस्य मूलं अर्थः । अर्थस्य मूलं राज्यं । राज्यस्य मूलं इन्द्रिय जयः । इन्द्रियाजयस्य मूलं विनयः । विनयस्य मूलं वृद्धोपसेवा॥The root of happiness is Dharma (ethics, righteousness), Artha (economy) is the root of Dharma, polity), The origin of Artha is only government, The foundation of effective administration is triumphant self-control, Humility is the foundation of triumphant inner discipline, Serving the elderly is the source of humility.

— Kautilya, Chanakya Sutra 1-6

The scope of Arthaśāstra is, however, way beyond statecraft, Moreover, it provides a description of a complete civil and criminal law and administrative structure for governing a kingdom, provides a plethora of culturally descriptive information on subjects such as mineralogy, Metals and mining, agriculture, Veterinary science and