The Ancient Economy introduces readers to the nature of economic life in the ancient world, and provides a valuable guide to scholarly debates on the subject. The book describes and examines the economic processes and fluctuations of the ancient world, and shows how these relate to political and social change and conditions. Leading experts address the central issues, from agricultural production to the uses of money and the creation of markets. Taken as a whole the book exemplifies the range of interdisciplinary perspectives on the ancient economy, and illustrates the methodological approaches scholars have deployed to understand it. In doing so it draws on literary, ecological and archaeological evidence.

Introduction; PART I: AFTER FINLEY; Chapter 1 The Economy (Economies) of Ancient Greece; Chapter 2 Twenty Years after Moses I. Finley's The Ancient Economy; PART II: PRODUCTION; Chapter 3 Traditional and Ancient Rural Economy in Mediterranean Europe: plus ça change?; Chapter 4 Olive Production and the Roman Economy: The Case for Intensive Growth in the Roman Empire; PART III MONEY AND MARKETS; Chapter 5 Money and Mythic History: The Contestation of Transactional Orders in the Fifth Century BC; Chapter 6 Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Subsistence: Exchange and Society in the Greek City; Chapter 7 The Price Histories of Some Imported Goods on Independent Delos; Chapter 8 The Ancient Economy and Graeco-Roman Egypt; PART IV TRADE AND TRANSFER; Chapter 9 Agricultural Products Transported in Amphorae: Oil and Wine; Chapter 10 Rome, Taxes, Rents and Trade; PART V THE NATURE OF THE ANCIENT ECONOMY; Chapter 11 Modernism, Economics and the Ancient Economy; Chapter 12 Framing the Debate over Growth in the Ancient Economy;