Aristotle and Foreign Trade

Money Decentralization under Direct Democracy Procedures. The Case of Classical Athens

“…Modern evidence shows that the Ancient Greek economy and more specifically, that of Classical Athens, was much more sophisticated and complex than previously thought and had many modern characteristics. Such evidence is provided, among others, by Cohen (1992), Morris (2004), Amemiya (2007), Bitros and Karayannis (2008), Kyriazis (2009), Engen (2010), Halkos and Kyriazis (2010), Lyttkens (2013), Bergh and Lyttkens (2014), Bresson (2016aBresson ( , 2016b, Harris (2016), Woolmer (2016), Economou and Kyriazis (2017) and Bitros et al (2020) and the references they provide therein. Athenians formed the Athenian Alliance , also known as the Delian League, to continue the war against the Persians, which lasted till the so called "Peace of Kallias" (the Athenian negotiator) in 449 BCE.…”

“…Free movement of an extensive variety of goods and services, based on market economy principles and a property rights protection environment, was established between Athens and its allies (Woolmer 2016;Economou and Kyriazis 2017). Moreover, Piraeus became the international entrepôt of antiquity due primarily to the huge volume of commercial transactions that were taking place there (Cohen 1992, p. 141;Hansen 2006;Bresson 2016aBresson , 2016bWoolmer 2016). Thus, the Athenian Alliance was, in some of its aspects, the forerunner of later customs and monetary unions.…”

Plato as a Game Theorist towards an International Trade Policy

“…As it was already mentioned in the introduction, the success of the Athenians should be attributed to the superior package of (the free market type of) economic institutions they developed, even if in a primitive form in relation to today. Bresson (2016aBresson ( , 2016b, Harris and Lewis (2016), O'Halloran (2018), Bitros et al (2020), Economou et al (2021), among others, have analyzed the Athenian "international" trade policy through the establishment of a unified "economic area" for interstate commercial transactions between the member city-states of the Delian League while Economou et al (2021) add that this area should be also seen as an ad hoc monetary union. According to Cohen (1992, p. 141) in the port of Piraeus, the products imported could be sold on site and directly exported to new end-user markets.…”

“…During recent years, scholars have researched various aspects of the ancient Athenian economy of the Classical period (508-323 BC), showing its modern character and institutional setup in many areas, such as banking, insurance and other financial services. Bresson (2016aBresson ( , 2016b, O'Halloran (2018), Economou and Kyriazis (2019) and Bitros et al (2020) among other authors, have analyzed the market-type of economic institutions that ensured the smooth functioning of the Athenian market while Bitros and Karayiannis (2008) have analyzed the related issue of entrepreneurship in Athens under free market economic principles. Stewart et al (2020) focused on market specialization and division of labor in Classical Athens.…”

“…The speed of litigation is of high importance so as to reduce significantly transaction costs (Coase 1960), and protection of commercial transactions through the law so as to become credible is a pivotal intertemporal axiom (Hodgson 2015). Bresson (2016aBresson ( , 2016b, Harris and Lewis (2016), O'Halloran (2018), Bitros et al (2020), and Economou et al (2021) analyze the international commercial orientation of the Athenian economy. During 478-404 BCE Athens benefited by international commerce, mainly with its 316 allied states (according to Figueira 1998, p. 52) through the Delian League and this led its economy to achieve economic growth, at least for some specific years.…”