Post on 06-Aug-2020
ΝΟΜΙΣΜΑΤΙΚΕΣ ΣΥΝΑΝΤΗΣΕΙΣ
RENCONTRES NUMISMATIQUES
Lundi 24 novembre 2014 - 18:00
Salle Kostes Palamas - Akademias 48 & Sina
Δευτέρα 24 Νοεμβρίου 2014 - 6 μ.μ.
Αίθουσα Κωστής Παλαμάς - Ακαδημίας 48 & Σίνα
Edward HARRISDurham University
The legal foundation of economic growth
in Ancient Greece. The role of property records.
The Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto has written eloquently about the importance of providing legal
protections for the rights of ownership and creating property registers as a key factor in economic development. If the
majority of the people cannot protect their assets through the legal system, they cannot participate in the legal
arrangements that would allow them to use their assets to take advantage of their full economic potential. Douglas
North has also stressed the importance of property rights for the development of markets and credit institutions. This
talk reviews the nature of property records in the Greek poleis and examines their role in fostering economic growth
in the Classical and Hellenistic periods. It shows that systematic records of sales and legal protections for ownership
helped to expand lening and borrowing outside the narrow framework of family, friends and neighbors and to
expand markets in land and credit.