Understanding the Politics of Perikles around 450 BC: the benefits of an economic perspective
Lyttkens, Carl Hampus LU
and Gerding, Henrik
LU
(2015)
In Working Paper / Department of Economics, School of Economics and Management, Lund University
- Abstract
- Perikles is usually seen as a great statesman and clever leader of the Athenians. In the mid fifth century BC, he seems however to have been in serious political trouble and may well have been in danger of losing the struggle for power and of being ostracised. The fact that his Incentives changed considerably at this point in time is ignored in traditional historical accounts. In contrast, we see the fierce competition as a motivation for several important policy measures introduced by Perikles at this particular time: the pay to jurors, the new law on citizenship (which has been a puzzle to many historians), and the building projects on the Acropolis and elsewhere. Compared to traditional analyses, an economic rational-actor approach thus... (More)
- Perikles is usually seen as a great statesman and clever leader of the Athenians. In the mid fifth century BC, he seems however to have been in serious political trouble and may well have been in danger of losing the struggle for power and of being ostracised. The fact that his Incentives changed considerably at this point in time is ignored in traditional historical accounts. In contrast, we see the fierce competition as a motivation for several important policy measures introduced by Perikles at this particular time: the pay to jurors, the new law on citizenship (which has been a puzzle to many historians), and the building projects on the Acropolis and elsewhere. Compared to traditional analyses, an economic rational-actor approach thus provides a diachronic analytical benefit by focusing on the way incentives change over time and it provides a synchronic benefit by dealing with various decisions in a common framework. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/5337424
- author
- Lyttkens, Carl Hampus
LU
and Gerding, Henrik
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2015
- type
- Working paper/Preprint
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- economics, ancient history, Athens, Perikles, law on citizenship, Parthenon, payment to jurors
- in
- Working Paper / Department of Economics, School of Economics and Management, Lund University
- issue
- 13
- pages
- 23 pages
- publisher
- Department of Economics, Lund University
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- b10a6820-cd58-49ab-9a1a-fbd54f2c3345 (old id 5337424)
- alternative location
- http://swopec.hhs.se/lunewp/abs/lunewp2015_013.htm
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 10:03:50
- date last changed
- 2023-11-03 12:04:02
@misc{b10a6820-cd58-49ab-9a1a-fbd54f2c3345,
abstract = {{Perikles is usually seen as a great statesman and clever leader of the Athenians. In the mid fifth century BC, he seems however to have been in serious political trouble and may well have been in danger of losing the struggle for power and of being ostracised. The fact that his Incentives changed considerably at this point in time is ignored in traditional historical accounts. In contrast, we see the fierce competition as a motivation for several important policy measures introduced by Perikles at this particular time: the pay to jurors, the new law on citizenship (which has been a puzzle to many historians), and the building projects on the Acropolis and elsewhere. Compared to traditional analyses, an economic rational-actor approach thus provides a diachronic analytical benefit by focusing on the way incentives change over time and it provides a synchronic benefit by dealing with various decisions in a common framework.}},
author = {{Lyttkens, Carl Hampus and Gerding, Henrik}},
keywords = {{economics; ancient history; Athens; Perikles; law on citizenship; Parthenon; payment to jurors}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Working Paper}},
number = {{13}},
publisher = {{Department of Economics, Lund University}},
series = {{Working Paper / Department of Economics, School of Economics and Management, Lund University}},
title = {{Understanding the Politics of Perikles around 450 BC: the benefits of an economic perspective}},
url = {{http://swopec.hhs.se/lunewp/abs/lunewp2015_013.htm}},
year = {{2015}},
}