Morality, institutions and economic growth: Lessons from ancient Greece

We show that the character and the morality of citizens are important ingredients of economic growth because they go hand in hand with the great institutions of private property, democ-racy, and free markets. Our approach enables us to establish this result by reference to the structure and performance of the ancient economies of Athens and Sparta during the period 490-338 BC. Athens grew vastly wealthier than Sparta essentially because its institutions were optimally adjusted to confront the basic scarcity of grains, whereas the institutions of Sparta were optimally adjusted to sustain its military supremacy. However, in both cases there emerged systems of morality, which secured the operating efficiency of their institutions. Therefore, poor countries in search of potent strategies for rapid economic growth should not just try to emulate the institutions of economically advanced countries. At the same time, they should put the emphasis of their efforts to setting up agoge systems, so as to infuse into the character of their citizens compatible “ethos”. For, without the latter, no matter how success-fully they adapt the institutions of democracy and free markets, rapid economic growth will be inhibited from the lack of an environment of generalized morality. In this regard, the ideal type model of agoge is the one that prevailed in ancient Athens 25 centuries ago.ancient Greece; morality; institutions; economic growth

The Conceptual Roots of Work Effort in Pre-classical and Classical Economic Thought

In modern literature, the concept of work effort is used as an additional explanation of involuntary unemployment. In particular, it is assumed that higher wages have a positive effect on work effort and this is the fundamental point of the efficiency wage models of involuntary unemployment. However, as it is often the case, the concept of the workers' effort was not new but it was an idea that can be found in the works of a number of pre-classical and classical economists. This paper discusses the conceptual roots of the idea from the late 17th until the middle of the 19th centuries. For instance, there is evidence of the connection between wages, work effort and consumption in the works of North, Hume, Steuart, Smith, Young, Crumpe, Ricardo, Senior, McCulloch, Babbage, Longfield, J.S. Mill and others. The paper also assesses the similarities and differences of their views with current approaches to work effort.work effort; wage rate; pre-classical thought; classical thought

A Review of Kuhnian and Lakatosian “Explanations” in Economics

In the last few decades the influence on economics of the ideas of T. Kuhn and I. Lakatos was considerable. The increasing use of terms like “paradigms” and “scientific research programmes” in almost every field of economics, is indicative of the influence of these two philosophers. Furthermore, the introduction of the ideas of Kuhn and Lakatos in economics gave the stimulus for work on the nature of growth of economic knowledge. The paper starts by presenting the main influence of T. Kuhn on theories concerned with the evolution of economic theory. It continues with a review of the main criticisms regarding the appropriateness and applicability of Kuhnian ideas for economics. The same approach is followed in the case of I. Lakatos. After a classification and discussion of the main findings, the paper attempts to offer an interpretation of the general impact of these two philosophers science on ideas relating to the development of economic theories.Development of economics; Economic Methodology; Kuhn; Lakatos

Mainstream Consumer Theory: Delay, Acceptance and History Texts

Consumer theory is considered to be the hard core of the neoclassical canon. The present work traces the various historical stages which led to the acceptance of the theory, and attempts to offer some possible explanations for its eventual establishment. The paper starts with a brief historical discussion of the establishment of the canon of the marginalist consumer theory. Subsequently, it discusses the main points of attack by alternative schools of thought. Finally, as part of the assessment, the paper will utilize period and phenomenological histories of thought in appraising the fashionable or non-fashionable way that this theory found a permanent place in the general texts of the history of economics. The discussion might contribute to the understanding of the dominance of mainstream consumer theory and the way that it took its paramount place in modern economics.History of Consumer Theory; History of Mainstream Economics

Morality, institutions and economic growth: Lessons from ancient Greece

We show that the character and the morality of citizens are important ingredients of economic growth because they go hand in hand with the great institutions of private property, democ-racy, and free markets. Our approach enables us to establish this result by reference to the structure and performance of the ancient economies of Athens and Sparta during the period 490-338 BC. Athens grew vastly wealthier than Sparta essentially because its institutions were optimally adjusted to confront the basic scarcity of grains, whereas the institutions of Sparta were optimally adjusted to sustain its military supremacy. However, in both cases there emerged systems of morality, which secured the operating efficiency of their institutions. Therefore, poor countries in search of potent strategies for rapid economic growth should not just try to emulate the institutions of economically advanced countries. At the same time, they should put the emphasis of their efforts to setting up agoge systems, so as to infuse into the character of their citizens compatible “ethos”. For, without the latter, no matter how success-fully they adapt the institutions of democracy and free markets, rapid economic growth will be inhibited from the lack of an environment of generalized morality. In this regard, the ideal type model of agoge is the one that prevailed in ancient Athens 25 centuries ago

The Paradox of Happiness: Evidence from the Late Pre-Classical and Classical Economic Thought

A number of studies have shown that considerable increases in real per capita income do not correspond to equivalent increases of reported individual happiness.This finding has been termed the paradox of happiness. The paper discusses this paradox by drawing from the history of economic thought. More specifically, it argues that the idea of basic and non-basic needs can be an alternative way of approaching this paradox. The basis of this idea can be found in pre-classical economic thought and also in the works of major classical economists. Thus, it is shown that preclassical and classical views on hierarchical consumption, basic needs and their links with happiness and material consumption might provide an alternative explanation of the happiness paradox

The Conceptual Roots of Work Effort in Pre-classical and Classical Economic Thought

In modern literature, the concept of work effort is used as an additional explanation of involuntary unemployment. In particular, it is assumed that higher wages have a positive effect on work effort and this is the fundamental point of the efficiency wage models of involuntary unemployment. However, as it is often the case, the concept of the workers' effort was not new but it was an idea that can be found in the works of a number of pre-classical and classical economists. This paper discusses the conceptual roots of the idea from the late 17th until the middle of the 19th centuries. For instance, there is evidence of the connection between wages, work effort and consumption in the works of North, Hume, Steuart, Smith, Young, Crumpe, Ricardo, Senior, McCulloch, Babbage, Longfield, J.S. Mill and others. The paper also assesses the similarities and differences of their views with current approaches to work effort

Mainstream Consumer Theory: Delay, Acceptance and History Texts

Consumer theory is considered to be the hard core of the neoclassical canon. The present work traces the various historical stages which led to the acceptance of the theory, and attempts to offer some possible explanations for its eventual establishment. The paper starts with a brief historical discussion of the establishment of the canon of the marginalist consumer theory. Subsequently, it discusses the main points of attack by alternative schools of thought. Finally, as part of the assessment, the paper will utilize period and phenomenological histories of thought in appraising the fashionable or non-fashionable way that this theory found a permanent place in the general texts of the history of economics. The discussion might contribute to the understanding of the dominance of mainstream consumer theory and the way that it took its paramount place in modern economics

Entrepreneurial Morality: Some Indications from Greece

In countries with relatively small firms, entrepreneurial morality is determined by the influences that shape the values, the personality and the character of entrepreneurs as owners and managers of their enterprises. To shed some light on the processes involved we estimate an ordered probit model using data from 1643 enterprises, which were collected in Greece in the spring of 2006. We find that localized and generalized morality, the family and the educational environment, the level of education, the size of firms, and the moral factors that contribute to success in business, determine entrepreneurial morality in a statistically significant way. By contrast, even though we experimented with such other influences as the age of enterprises, the gender of entrepreneurs, the location of schools where they grew up, etc., none of them turned out to exert perceptible impacts