IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cup/jinsec/v10y2014i02p279-310_00.html

Measuring institutional quality in ancient Athens

Author

Listed:
  • BERGH, ANDREAS
  • LYTTKENS, CARL HAMPUS

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Bergh, Andreas & Lyttkens, Carl Hampus, 2014. "Measuring institutional quality in ancient Athens," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(2), pages 279-310, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jinsec:v:10:y:2014:i:02:p:279-310_00
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S174413741300043X/type/journal_article
    File Function: link to article abstract page
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lyttkens, Carl Hampus & Gerding, Henrik, 2015. "Understanding the Politics of Perikles Around 450 BC. The Benefits of an Economic Perspective," Working Papers 2015:13, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    2. Bryan C. McCannon, 2018. "Arbitration in classical Athens," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 29(4), pages 413-423, December.
    3. Pál Czeglédi, 2017. "Productivity, institutions, and market beliefs: three entrepreneurial interpretations," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 6(2), pages 164-180, August.
    4. Dilli, Selin & Elert, Niklas, 2016. "The Diversity of Entrepreneurial Regimes in Europe," Working Paper Series 1118, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    5. Emmanouil M. L. Economou & Nikolaos A. Kyriazis & Nicholas C. Kyriazis, 2021. "Managing Financial Risks while Performing International Commercial Transactions. Intertemporal Lessons from Athens in Classical Times," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-14, October.
    6. Economou, Emmanouel/Marios/Lazaros & Kyriazis, Nicholas & Zachilas, Loukas, 2016. "Interpreting sociopolitical change by using Chaos Theory: A lesson from Sparta and Athens," MPRA Paper 76117, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Federica Carugati & Josiah Ober & Barry R. Weingast, 2019. "Is development uniquely modern? Ancient Athens on the doorstep," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 181(1), pages 29-47, October.
    8. Emmanouil-Marios L. Economou & Nicholas C. Kyriazis & Nikolaos A. Kyriazis, 2021. "Money Decentralization under Direct Democracy Procedures. The Case of Classical Athens," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-17, January.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • N43 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N93 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • P52 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems - - - Comparative Studies of Particular Economies

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cup:jinsec:v:10:y:2014:i:02:p:279-310_00. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kirk Stebbing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.cambridge.org/joi .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.