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Values and institutions as determinants of entrepreneurship in ancient Athens

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2008

GEORGE C. BITROS  and
ANASTASSIOS D. KARAYIANNIS
GEORGE C. BITROS*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece
ANASTASSIOS D. KARAYIANNIS*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Piraeus, Greece
*
*Correspondence to: George C. Bitros, Professor, Department of Economics, Athens University of Economics and Business, 76 Patission St, 10434, Athens, Greece. Email: [email protected]
**Anastassios D. Karayiannis, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Piraeus, 80, Karaoli & Dimitriou, 18534, Piraeus, Greece. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

This paper shows that in classical Athens, values and institutions encouraged many types of entrepreneurship. Successful entrepreneurs received social and political distinctions, and some entrepreneurial slaves gained their freedom. However, to deter extreme individualism, success in business was judged by the means used to acquire wealth, rather than simply the amount of wealth acquired. The system encouraged those entrepreneurs who were esteemed socially, to work hard, use ethical means, not to consume their wealth conspicuously but to share it with the rest of the people by undertaking public expenditures, and to abide by the laws and ordinances of the city-state.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Institutional Economics , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , August 2008 , pp. 205 - 230
Copyright
Copyright © The JOIE Foundation 2008

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