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.