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Morality, institutions and the wealth of nations: Some lessons from ancient Greece

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  • Bitros, George C.
  • Karayiannis, Anastassios D.

Abstract

The character and the morality of citizens are important for prosperity because they go hand in hand with the great institutions of private property, democracy, and free markets. We establish this result by reference to the city-states of Athens and Sparta during the period 490-338 BC. Consequently, we conclude, countries in search of policies to escape from the trap of poverty should not only try to emulate the institutions of economically advanced countries but furthermore they should set up educational systems to infuse into the value systems of their citizens' compatible "ethos".

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  • Bitros, George C. & Karayiannis, Anastassios D., 2010. "Morality, institutions and the wealth of nations: Some lessons from ancient Greece," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 68-81, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:poleco:v:26:y:2010:i:1:p:68-81
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Nicholas Kyriazis & Xenophon Paparrigopoulos, 2014. "War and democracy in ancient Greece," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 163-183, August.
    2. Bitros, George C., 2012. "From Riches to Rags or What Went Wrong in Greece," MPRA Paper 43504, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Pitsoulis, Athanassios, 2011. "The egalitarian battlefield: Reflections on the origins of majority rule in archaic Greece," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 87-103, March.
    4. Manfred J. Holler & Alain Marciano, 2010. "Machiavelli’s Possibility Hypothesis," Czech Economic Review, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, vol. 4(1), pages 018-031, March.
    5. George Tridimas, 2012. "Constitutional choice in ancient Athens: the rationality of selection to office by lot," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 1-21, March.
    6. Tridimas, George, 2012. "How democracy was achieved," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 651-658.
    7. Engen, Darel Tai, 2011. "Democracy, Knowledge, and the Hidden Economy of Athens," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 93-106.
    8. Kyriazis, Nicholas & Metaxas, Theodore, 2013. "The emergence of democracy: a behavioural perspective," MPRA Paper 47146, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Kyriazis, Nicholas & Paparrigopoulos, Xenophon & Economou, Emmanouel/Marios/Lazaros, 2013. "The Glue of Democracy: Economics, Warfare and Values in Classical Greece," MPRA Paper 45117, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Anastassios Karayiannis & Aristides Hatzis, 2012. "Morality, social norms and the rule of law as transaction cost-saving devices: the case of ancient Athens," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 621-643, June.
    11. Kyriacou, Andreas P., 2016. "Individualism–collectivism, governance and economic development," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 91-104.
    12. Irene Daskalopoulou, 2019. "Individual-Level Evidence on the Causal Relationship Between Social Trust and Institutional Trust," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 275-298, July.
    13. Rosenberg, Jacob & Weiss, Avi, 2012. "Property rights and institutions in biblical society: The purchase of the Cave of the Patriarchs," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 279-285.
    14. Tridimas, George, 2015. "War, disenfranchisement and the fall of the ancient Athenian democracy," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 102-117.
    15. Bitros, George C., 2013. "European Union failures in Greece and some possible explanations," MPRA Paper 45017, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Holler, Manfred J. & Leroch, Martin, 2010. "Efficiency and justice revisited," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 311-319, September.
    17. Bitros, George C. & Karayiannis, Anastasios D., 2009. "Character, knowledge and skills in ancient Greek education: Lessons for today’s policy makers," MPRA Paper 18012, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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