Besides the recognition of such principles, we have seen that many practical suggestions for the amelioration of economic and social conditions, which are being seriously presented today, were first proposed by Greek thinkers. Measures for the divorce of government from big business, state control of natural monopolies, conservation of natural resources, state supervision of trade and commerce, including regulation of prices and rates, publicity in business, pure food laws, and the socialization of industry and its products were all first proposed by Greeks. On the other hand, we have seen that practically all the modern stock arguments against socialism were long ago presented by Aristotle, and that the ideal of the Greek socialist was not primarily materialistic and selfish, as the modern, but moral and social.
Such a list of positive economic principles and practical suggestions should surely give the Greeks some claim to recognition in the field of economic thought. But they should be judged primarily, not by their positive contribution to economic theory or by the practical nature of their suggestions for legislation, but rather by the extent to which they realized the existence of the great economic and social problems, which are still crying for a solution. From this standpoint, we have seen that Plato and Aristotle especially reveal remarkable economic insight. Moreover, there still remains the outstanding fact that the Greeks were the forerunners of the moral, humanitarian, and social emphasis in present-day economy. This alone should give to them a distinct place in the evolution of economic thought, and should make it impossible for Souchon to conclude: “Ces mépris [of G. B. Say] sont pour nous apparaître plus justifiés que les admirations de Roscher.”[[1060]]
The influence of Greek thought upon later economic theory, however, seems not to have been very direct or extensive, probably owing to the incidental nature of their speculation. To be sure, mediaeval economic thought presents, in many respects, an unbroken continuity with the Greek. In their emphasis on the moral, in their doctrines on usury, just price, importance of agriculture, exchange for profit, and in their general conservative attitude toward money and commercial development, mediaeval thinkers are very similar to the Socratics.[[1061]] Doubtless much of this similarity may be traced to the direct influence of Aristotle, as is especially evident in the work of Thomas Aquinas and Nicholas Oresme.[[1062]] To a considerable extent, however, the economic ideas of the Middle Ages were a direct outgrowth of the economic and religious conditions under which the writers lived.[[1063]] In the following centuries, some Greek influence may be traced in Adam Smith, in the physiocrats,[[1064]] in utopian writers such as More, and in eighteenth-century thinkers like Rousseau.
It is usually asserted that the economic thought of the past century has been practically unaffected by Greek ideas. But our previous discussion has clearly shown that Plato and Xenophon, at least, dominated the economic thinking of Ruskin. If further evidence is needed, it is necessary only to turn to the names of Greek thinkers in the index to the monumental new edition of his works, which we have frequently cited above. He frankly and enthusiastically presents himself as an apostle of a “Greek theory of economics.”[[1065]] But despite some of his utopian and extravagant ideas, he is being ever more recognized by authorities in economics as having been one of the chief factors in the development of political economy to its present moral and humanitarian emphasis.[[1066]] His repudiation of the abstract “economic man,” his insistence upon human, moral, and social ideals in economics, his attempt to broaden the definition of economic value and wealth by emphasizing true utility, his constant stress upon proper consumption rather than upon production, his demand that all have opportunity up to their capacity, his opposition to the laissez-faire policy in economics and politics, his emphasis upon right education, all have borne rich and abiding fruit in the last few decades, and these are all distinctively Greek ideas, as we have seen above. Thus indirectly, through Ruskin, Greek economic thought has exerted a potent influence upon the evolution of nineteenth-century economics, and thus there is much truth in the words of Wagner, as quoted by Oncken,[[1067]] not merely for German, but for all modern economy: “Es ist im Grunde uralter wahrhaft classischer Boden, auf den jetzt die deutsche ökonomische und soziale Theorie und Praxis sich bewusst wieder stellen.” Souchon’s characterization of Greek economy as “morale étatisme”[[1068]] could well be applied to much in the economic thought of today.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The following bibliography includes: (a) histories of economic thought; almost all of these have only a cursory chapter on Greek theory, and several of them deal largely with economic conditions; (b) histories of socialism and social theory, to which the foregoing statement applies to a large extent; (c) chapters in works on different phases of Greek economic history; (d) other works of a more general type, which deal more or less extensively with Greek economic or social ideas; (e) articles and dissertations; (f) editions of Greek authors that are of special interest for our subject. It is manifestly impossible to name many of these latter, and we shall content ourselves with the mention of a few that have proved especially helpful. The works are listed in alphabetical order, for greater convenience in reference, and those of chief interest are starred.
Adam, James (The Republic of Plato, 1902).
Adler, G. Geschichte des Socialismus und Kommunismus von Plato bis zur Gegenwart (1899), pp. 6-52. On Greek.
Alesio. “Alcune riflessioni intorno ai concetti del valore nell’antichità classica,” Archivio Giuridico, 1889.
Ashley, W. J. “Aristotle’s Doctrine of Barter,” Quarterly Journal of Economy, 1895. An interpretation of Ar. Pol. i. 1258b27 ff.