TY - BOOK ID - 6653227 TI - The ancient economy PY - 1999 VL - 48 SN - 0520219465 9780520219465 PB - Berkeley : University of California Press, DB - UniCat KW - Economic history KW - -330.93 KW - Economic conditions KW - History, Economic KW - Economics KW - Social sciences Economics History Ancient world KW - 330.93 KW - Economic history - To 500. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:6653227 AB - "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. ER -