Creating Economic Order: Record-Keeping, Standardization, and The Development of Accounting In The Ancient Near East / A Colloquium Held At The ... Conference of Ancient Near Eastern Economies)

by Michael Hudson, Cornelia Wunsch

The fourth volume in a series sponsored by the International Scholars Conference of Ancient Near Eastern Economies (ISCANEE) and the Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET) addresses the extent to which accounting practices actively shaped economic life. This volume traces the aims and functions of accounting practices from early Uruk (c. 3300 B.C.) down through the Neo-Babylonian period, as well as Egyptian practice. Described are the accounting techniques that diffused from Sumer eastward to the Iranian plateau and, to the northwest, up the Euphrates through Syria and across the Mediterranean to Crete and Mycenaean Greece.

Genres: History

354 pages, Paperback

First published October 30, 2004

About the author

Michael Hudson is an American economist, Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri–Kansas City and a researcher at the Levy Economics Institute at Bard College, former Wall Street analyst, political consultant, commentator and journalist. He is a contributor to The Hudson Report, a weekly economic and financial news podcast produced by Left Out.

Reviews

[MARC L'ESPERANCE · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting historical study of economic record keeping in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and ancient Greece. Money and economic planning began with the public sector, not the private sector.