Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T09:08:29.614Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Measuring institutional quality in ancient Athens

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 January 2014

ANDREAS BERGH*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden, and The Research Institute of Industrial Economics, Stockholm
CARL HAMPUS LYTTKENS*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

Abstract

We use the Economic Freedom Index to characterize the institutions of the Athenian city-state in the fourth century BCE. It has been shown that ancient Greece witnessed improved living conditions for an extended period of time. Athens in the fourth century appears to have fared particularly well. We find that economic freedom in ancient Athens is on level with the highest ranked modern economies such as Hong Kong and Singapore. With the exception of the position of women and slaves, Athens scores high in almost every dimension of economic freedom. Trade is probably highly important even by current standards. As studies of contemporary societies suggest that institutional quality is probably an important determinant of economic growth, it may also have been one factor in the relative material success of the Athenians.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Millennium Economics Ltd 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Abdiweli, A. M. (2003), ‘Institutional Differences as Sources of Growth Differences’, Atlantic Economic Journal, 31: 348362.Google Scholar
Acemoglu, D. and Robinson, J. A. (2006), Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy, New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Amemiya, T. (2007), Economy and Economics of Ancient Greece, Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Andreades, A. M. (1979[1933]), A History of Greek Public Finance, New York: Arno Press.Google Scholar
Andreau, J. and Descat, R. (2011), The Slave in Greece and Rome, Madison WI: The University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Berggren, N. and Jordahl, H. (2005), ‘Does Free Trade Really Reduce Growth? Further Testing using the Economic Freedom Index’, Public Choice, 122: 99114.Google Scholar
Bjørnskov, C. and Foss, N. J. (2008), ‘Economic Freedom and Entrepreneurial Activity: Some Cross-Country Evidence’, Public Choice, 134: 307328.Google Scholar
Bresson, A. (2007), L’économie de la Grèce des cités. I. Les structures et la production, Paris: Armand Collin.Google Scholar
Brun, P. (1983), Eisphora–Syntaxis–Stratiotika. Recherches sur les finances militaires d’Athènes au IVe siècle avant J.-C, Paris: Annales Littéraires de l’Université de Besançon, 284.Google Scholar
Burford, A. M. (1965), ‘The Economics of Greek Temple Building’, Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society, No. 191: 2134.Google Scholar
Burke, E. M. (1992), ‘The Economy of Athens in the Classical Era: Some Adjustments to the Primitivist Model’, Transactions of the American Philological Association, 122: 199226.Google Scholar
Chankowski, V. (2005), ‘Techniques Financiéres, Influences, Performances dans Lesactivités Bancaires des Sanctuaires Grecs’, Topoi 12–13: 6993.Google Scholar
Chankowski, V. (2007), ‘Les Places Financières dans Lemonde Grec Classique et Hellénstique des Cités’, Pallas 74: 93112.Google Scholar
Cohen, E. E. (1992), Athenian Economy and Society. A Banking Perspective, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Davies, J. K. (1967), ‘Demosthenes on liturgies: A note’, Journal of Hellenic Studies 87: 3340.Google Scholar
Davies, J. K. (1971), Athenian Propertied Families 60–300 B.C., Salem, NH: The Ayer Company.Google Scholar
Davies, J. K. (2001), ‘Temples, Credit, and the Circulation of Money’, in Meadows, A. and Shipton, K. (eds.), Money and its Uses in the Ancient Greek World, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press 2007, pp. 117128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, J. K. (2007), ‘Classical Greece: Production’, in Scheidel, W., Morris, I. and Saller, R. (eds.), The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 333361.Google Scholar
Dawson, J. W. (2003), ‘Causality in the Freedom–Growth Relationship’, European Journal of Political Economy, 19: 479495.Google Scholar
Deaton, A. (1995), ‘Data and Econometric Tools for Development Analysis’, in Behrman, J. and Srinivasan, T. N. (eds.), Handbook of Development Economics, Vol. 3a, Amsterdam and New York: Elsevier, North-Holland, pp. 17851882.Google Scholar
de Haan, J., Lundstrom, S. and Sturm, J. E. (2006), ‘Market-Oriented Institutions and Policies and Economic Growth, a Critical Survey’, Journal of Economic Surveys, 20: 157324.Google Scholar
de Haan, J. and Sturm, J-E. (2000), ‘On the Relationship between Economic Freedom and Economic Growth’, European Journal of Political Economy, 16: 215241.Google Scholar
de Haan, J. and Sturm, J-E. (2003), ‘Does More Democracy Lead to Greater Economic Freedom? New Evidence for Developing Countries’, European Journal of Political Economy 19: 547563.Google Scholar
Doucouliagos, C. and Ulubasoglu, M. A. (2006), ‘Economic Freedom and Economic Growth: Does Specification Make a Difference?’, European Journal of Political Economy, 22: 6081.Google Scholar
Dreher, A. (2006), ‘The Influence of Globalization on Taxes and Social Policy – an Empirical Analysis for OECD Countries’, European Journal of Political Economy, 22: 179201.Google Scholar
Engen, D. T. (2005), ‘‘Ancient Greenbacks’: Athenian Owls, the Law of Nikophon, and the Greek Economy’, Historia, 54: 359381.Google Scholar
Foxhall, L. (1992), ‘The Control of the Attic Landscape’, in Wells, B. (ed.), Agriculture in Ancient Greece: Proceedings of the Seventh International Symposium at the Swedish Institute at Athens, 16–17 May, 1990, Stockholm, Sweden.Google Scholar
Foxhall, L. (2002), ‘Access to Resources in Ancient Greece: The Egalitarianism of the Polis in Practice’, in Cartledge, P., Cohen, E. E. and Foxhall, L. (eds.), Money, Labour, and Land: Approaches to the Economies of Ancient Greece, London: Routledge, pp. 209220.Google Scholar
Gabrielsen, V. (1987), ‘The Antidosis Procedure in Classical Athens’, Classica et Mediaevalia, 38: 738.Google Scholar
Gabrielsen, V. (1994), Financing the Athenian Fleet, Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Glaeser, E. L., La Porta, R., Lopez-de-Silanes, F. and Shleifer, A. (2004), ‘Do Institutions Cause Growth?’, Journal of Economic Growth, 9: 271303.Google Scholar
Goldsmith, R. W. (1987), Premodern Financial Systems, New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Greif, A. (2005), ‘Commitment, Coercion, and Markets: the Nature and Dynamics of Institutions Supporting Exchange’, in Ménard, C. and Shirley, M. M., Handbook of New Institutional Economics, Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer, pp. 727786.Google Scholar
Gwartney, J., Lawson, R. and Hall, J. C. (2012), Economic Freedom of the World: 2012 Annual Report. The Fraser Institute. Data retrieved from www.freetheworld.com.Google Scholar
Gwartney, J., Lawson, R. and Norton, S. (2010), Economic Freedom of the World: 2010 Annual Report. The Fraser Institute. Data retrieved from www.freetheworld.com.Google Scholar
Hansen, M. H. (1999), The Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes : Structure, Principles, and Ideology, Norman, OK: Univ. of Oklahoma Press.Google Scholar
Hansen, M. H. (2006), The Shotgun Method. The Demography of the Ancient Greek City-State Culture, Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press.Google Scholar
Heckelman, J. C. (2000), ‘Economic Freedom and Economic Growth: A Short-Run Causal Investigation’, Journal of Applied Economics, 3: 7191.Google Scholar
Hornblower, S. (1983), The Greek World 479–323 BC, New York: Methuen.Google Scholar
Isager, S. and Hansen, M. H. (1975), Aspects of Athenian Society in the Fourth Century B.C., Odense, Denmark: Odense University Press.Google Scholar
Justesen, M. K. (2008), ‘The Effect of Economic Freedom on Growth Revisited: New Evidence on Causality from a Panel of Countries 1970–1999’, European Journal of Political Economy, 24: 642660.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kron, G. (1996), Landed and Commercial Wealth at Classical Athens 500–300 B.C. PhD thesis. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto.Google Scholar
Kron, G. (2005), ‘Anthropometry, Physical Anthropology, and the Reconstruction of Ancient Health, Nutrition, and Living Standards’, Historia, 54: 6883.Google Scholar
Lawson, R. A. and Clark, J. R. (2010), ‘Examining the Hayek–Friedman Hypothesis on Economic and Political Freedom’, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 74: 230239.Google Scholar
Loomis, W. T. (1998), Wages, Welfare Costs and Inflation in Classical Athens, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Lyttkens, C. H. (1992), ‘Effects of the Taxation of Wealth in Athens in the Fourth Century B.C.’, Scandinavian Economic History Review, 40: 320.Google Scholar
Lyttkens, C. H. (1994), ‘A Predatory Democracy? An Essay on Taxation in Classical Athens’, Explorations in Economic History, 31: 6290.Google Scholar
Lyttkens, C. H. (2010), ‘Institutions, Taxation and Market Relationships in Ancient Athens’, Journal of Institutional Economics, 6: 505527.Google Scholar
Lyttkens, C. H. (2013), Economic Analysis of Institutional Change in Ancient Greece. Politics, Taxation and Rational Behaviour, Abingdon, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Melanovic, B., Peter, H. L. and Williamson, J. G. (2007), Measuring ancient inequality, New York: The World Bank.Google Scholar
Melton, J. (2012), Do Constitutions Matter?: The Relationship between De Jure and De Facto Human Rights Protection. Paper presented at the University of Oxford's Conference on Do Constitutions Matter?, Oxford, United Kingdom, June 29, 2012.Google Scholar
Migeotte, L. (2009), The Economy of the Greek Cities. From the Archaic Period to the Early Roman Empire, London: Univerity of California Press.Google Scholar
Morris, I. (2004), ‘Economic growth in ancient Greece’, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, 160: 709742.Google Scholar
Morris, I. (2005), ‘Archaeology, Standards of Living and Greek Economic History’, in Morris, I. & Manning, J. G. (eds.), The Ancient Economy. Evidence and Models, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, pp. 91126.Google Scholar
Morris, I. (2007), ‘Early Iron Age Greece’, Ch. 8 in Scheidel, W., Morris, I. and Saller, R. (eds.), The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 211241.Google Scholar
North, D. C. (1981), Structure and Change in Economic History, New York: W. W. Norton & Company.Google Scholar
North, D. C. (1990), Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance, New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
North, D. C. and Weingast, B. R. (1989), ‘Constitutions and Commitment: The Evolution of Institutions Governing Public Choice in Seventeenth-Century England’, The Journal of Economic History, 49: 803832.Google Scholar
Ober, J. (1989), Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Ober, J. (2008), Democracy and Knowledge, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Ober, J. (2010), ‘Wealthy Hellas’, Transactions of the American Philological Association, 140: 241286.Google Scholar
Ober, J. (forthcoming), ‘Fiscal Policy in Classical Athens’, In Scheidel, W. and Monson, A., The Fiscal Regimes and Political Economy of Early States.Google Scholar
Osborne, R. (1992), ‘Is it a Farm? The Definition of Agricultural Sites and Settlements in Ancient Greece’, in Wells, B. (ed.), Agriculture in Ancient Greece: Proceedings of the Seventh International Symposium at the Swedish Institute at Athens, 16–17 May, 1990, Stockholm, Sweden, pp. 2227.Google Scholar
Pritchard, D. (forthcoming), ‘Costing Festivals and War in Democratic Athens: Athenian Funding Priorities between 430 and 350 BC’, in van Wees, H. et al. (eds.), The Business of State. Public Finance in Ancient Athens, 594 BC to AD14, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Raaflaub, K. A. (2007), ‘The Breakthrough of Demokratia in Mid-Fifth-Century Athens’, in Raaflaub, K. A., Ober, J. and Wallace, R. W. (eds.), Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece, London: University of California Press, pp. 105154.Google Scholar
Scheidel, W. (2010a), ‘Human Development and Quality of Life in the Long Run: the Case of Greece’, Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics.Google Scholar
Scheidel, W. (2010b), ‘Real Wages in Early Economies: Evidence for Living Standards from 1800 BCE to 1300 CE’, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 53: 245462.Google Scholar
Skipton, C. and Lawson, R. (2004), Estimating the Size of the Trade Sector: An Explanation of the Methodology Used to Construct Actual and Expected Trade Sector Size for Component 4-C of the Economic Freedom of the World Index. Mimeo.Google Scholar
Snodgrass, A. (1986), ‘Interaction by Design: the Greek City State’, in Renfrew, C. and Cherry, J. F. (eds.), Peer Polity Interaction and Socio-Political Change, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 4758.Google Scholar

Ancient Sources

Aeschines 1, in: The speeches of Aeschines, The Loeb Classical Library, London: Harvard UP 1968.Google Scholar
Andokides 1 (On the mysteries), in: Minor Attic Orators I, The Loeb Classical Library, London: Harvard UP, 1982.Google Scholar
Aristotle The Athenian Constitution, in: Aristotle, Vol. XX, The Loeb Classical Library, London: Harvard UP, 1981.Google Scholar
Demosthenes 10 (The Fourth Philippic), in: Demosthenes Vol. I, The Loeb Classical Library, London: Harvard UP, 1989.Google Scholar
Lysias 30 (Against Nicomachus), in: Lysias, The Loeb Classical Library, London: Harvard UP, 1976.Google Scholar
Thukydides II, in: Thukydides, Vol. I, The Loeb Classical Library, London: Harvard UP, 1991.Google Scholar
Xenophon, Oeconomicus, in: Xenophon Vol. IV, The Loeb Classical Library, London: Harvard UP, 1979.Google Scholar
Xenophon, Ways and means, in: Xenophon Vol. VII Scripta Minora, The Loeb Classical Library, London: Harvard UP, 1984.Google Scholar