Economic life at the dawn of history in Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt : the birth of market conomy in the Third and early Second Millennia BCE / Refael (Rafi) Benvenisti ; translated from the Hebrew by Naftali Greenwood.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Benvenisti, Rafi, author.

Contributor:

Greenwood, Naftali, translator.

George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

Language:

English

Hebrew

Subjects (All):

Economic history--To 500.

Economic history.

Capitalism--Iraq--History.

Capitalism.

Capitalism--Egypt--History.

Middle East--History--To 622.

Middle East.

Egypt--Economic conditions--332 B.C.-640 A.D.

Egypt.

Iraq.

Genre:

History

Physical Description:

xii, 211 pages : maps ; 24 cm

Other Title:

The birth of market conomy in the Third and early Second Millennia BCE

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; Boston : Walter de Gruyter GmbH, [2024]

Language Note:

English text translated from Hebrew.

Summary:

The book is a study of the emergence of market economy with modern economic institutions in the early civilizations of Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt from the third and early second millennium B.C.E. The study covers the Sumerian, Old Assyrian and Old Babylonian periods. The economic analysis is based on Institutional Economics theory, and the data on the Old Assyrian period is based on the work of many scholars that transliterated, translated and studied many of the 23,000 documents of the Old Assyrian traders found in old Kanesh in Central Turkey.The book includes chapters on the institutions of: property rights; the markets and means of exchange; the organization and finance of trade; and enforcement institutions from the judicial, social and political systems. In addition, it gives a detailed analysis of: the early means of exchange (money) like the use of volume measure of barely and weight measure of copper and silver in Sumer; various instruments establishing property rights such as Kuduru border stones, seals and inserted cones in walls; detailed analysis of the communication system and its components; and the description of the modern financial instruments used to include, for example, limited partnerships.

Contents:

Introduction

1. Property rights

2. The market and means of exchange (money)

3. Organization and finance

4. Enforcement

Conclusion

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages186-196) and index.

Originally published in Hebrew by Magnes Press, 2014.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the George Clapp Vaillant Book Fund.

ISBN:

9783111065106

3111065103

OCLC:

1419940383