A World Transformed
A01=Edward Cohen
Ancient Greece
Asset
Author_Edward Cohen
Bank
Capital asset
Capital market
Capitalism
Category=KCZ
Category=KFFK
Category=NHC
Category=NHD
Classical Athens
Consideration
Constitution of the Athenians
Contemporary society
Credit (finance)
Credit risk
Creditor
Culture of Greece
Currency
Customer
Debt
Debtor
Demosthenes
Deposit account
Domestication
Economic history
Economic interdependence
Economic liberalization
Economic Life
Economics
Economy
Economy and Society
eq_bestseller
eq_business-finance-law
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Expense
Fiat money
Finance
Financial asset
Financial transaction
Funding
Hellenistic period
Household
Income
Institution
Interest rate
International Trade Organization
Law court (ancient Athens)
Market economy
Market liquidity
Money changer
Money market
Money supply
Neoclassical synthesis
Notary
Opisthodomos
Pawnbroker
Payment
Payment order
Political economy
Political system
Pontic Greeks
Provision (accounting)
Purchasing power
Repayment
Return on capital
Slavery
Slavery in ancient Greece
Stock market
Supply (economics)
Tax
The Ancient Economy
Trade Through
Utilization
Wealth
World economy
Product details
- ISBN 9780691015927
- Weight: 454g
- Dimensions: 197 x 254mm
- Publication Date: 26 Jan 1997
- Publisher: Princeton University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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In this ground-breaking analysis of the world's first private banks, Edward Cohen convincingly demonstrates the existence and functioning of a market economy in ancient Athens while revising our understanding of the society itself. Challenging the "primitivistic" view, in which bankers are merely pawnbrokers and money-changers, Cohen reveals that fourth-century Athenian bankers pursued sophisticated transactions. These dealings--although technologically far removed from modern procedures--were in financial essence identical with the lending and deposit-taking that separate true "banks" from other businesses. He further explores how the Athenian banks facilitated tax and creditor avoidance among the wealthy, and how women and slaves played important roles in these family businesses--thereby gaining legal rights entirely unexpected in a society supposedly dominated by an elite of male citizens. Special emphasis is placed on the reflection of Athenian cognitive patterns in financial practices. Cohen shows how transactions were affected by the complementary opposites embedded in the very structure of Athenian language and thought.
In turn, his analysis offers great insight into daily Athenian reality and cultural organization.
Edward E. Cohen is Chairman of the Executive Committee at JeffBanks, Inc., a bank-holding company based in Philadelphia. He holds a Ph.D. in classics from Princeton University and is author of Ancient Athenian Maritime Courts (Princeton).
