Measuring institutional quality in ancient Athens
Bergh, Andreas LU and Lyttkens, Carl Hampus LU
(2014)
In Journal of Institutional Economics
10(2).
p.279-310
- 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... (More)
- 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. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4216134
- author
- Bergh, Andreas
LU
and Lyttkens, Carl Hampus
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2014
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Journal of Institutional Economics
- volume
- 10
- issue
- 2
- pages
- 279 - 310
- publisher
- Cambridge University Press
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000339552300005
- scopus:84899482740
- ISSN
- 1744-1382
- DOI
- 10.1017/S174413741300043X
- project
- The Economics of Ancient Greece
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 0699b3bf-4854-48f2-8a08-185bc0652981 (old id 4216134)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 10:27:24
- date last changed
- 2023-11-09 21:22:21
@article{0699b3bf-4854-48f2-8a08-185bc0652981,
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.}},
author = {{Bergh, Andreas and Lyttkens, Carl Hampus}},
issn = {{1744-1382}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{2}},
pages = {{279--310}},
publisher = {{Cambridge University Press}},
series = {{Journal of Institutional Economics}},
title = {{Measuring institutional quality in ancient Athens}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/1858971/4779335.pdf}},
doi = {{10.1017/S174413741300043X}},
volume = {{10}},
year = {{2014}},
}