Ancient economic thought is a term used to describe views that were taken by people even before Middle Ages in the era of financial philosophy. According to contemporary interpretation, economics and politics were factors in the late Middle Ages of economists, which was only studied as a multidisciplinary category in the 18th century.
Towards the east
The requirement to effectively cultivate crops in river systems influenced the early societies of the golden crescent’s economic landscape. The oldest instances of regulated numbers written in base 60 with Egyptian fractions can be found in the Mesopotamia and Delta valleys.
The Heqanakht papyrus scroll mention Egyptian granary caretakers and non-resident Egyptian proprietors. The main accounting instrument for agrarian cultures during this time, the weights used to quantify grain inventories, expressed both religious and ethical signifiers, according to scholars of the era.
The Erlenmeyer stones depict Sumerian agriculture in the Euphrates River between 2200 and 2100 BC; they also demonstrate an understanding of the connection between wheat and labour outputs and inputs (measured in “female labour weeks”) as well as a focus on economy.
The Sumerian downtown area created a commerce and marketplace system centred on the Shekel, which represented a particular weight measure of wheat. The Babylonians and its neighbouring downtown area eventually created the first economic structure utilising a metre of commodity that was defined in a law system. The ancient Sumerian law codes, which are regarded as the primary economic equation, contained numerous elements that are still present in the modern price mechanism, including enshrined in law amounts of money required for company operations, monetary penalties for “misdoing,” succession laws, and regulations on the procedure for deduction and division of private property.
Ancient Greco-Roman World
As a rapid economic theory was based on metaphysical assumptions that are entirely inconsistent with current mainstream economic ideas like neo-classical finance, some researchers believe that the economic thought akin to the contemporary notion emerged during the eighteenth century or the Revolution.
Aristotle and Xenophon, among other ancient Greek and Roman philosophers, provided a number of socioeconomic insights. Numerous other Greek literatures demonstrate a mastery of complex economic proposals. For example, Gresham’s Law is depicted in some manner in Aristophanes’ Frogs, and Plato also acknowledges the value of traditional fiat in his Laws (742a–b) in the pseudo-Platonic conversation Eryxias, in addition to applying complicated mathematical techniques inspired by Pythagoreans. Neo-Platonist Bryson of Heraclea is credited with having a significant impact on early Muslim research and analysis.
Xenophon
The writings of Greek historian Xenophon reveals the impact of Mesopotamian and Persian philosophy on Greek administrative finance. In his Oeconomicus, and Ways and Means, discussions of economic theories are particularly prevalent. A small piece of literature called Hiero discusses how some rulers encourage innovation and commercial output by giving out awards and receiving admiration.