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nydus/A History of Greek Economic ThoughtPublic

This volume provides a reinterpretation of Greek economic theory by examining the relationship between ancient thought and modern humanitarian economy. The text analyzes Greek economic ideas within the context of the contemporary economic environment and provides a bibliography of relevant scholarly works.

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Table of Contents

CHAPTER IV XENOPHON

encouragement of industry and commerce, reveal a mind awake to economic advantage. Though at times he seems almost to make war and agriculture the only true means of production, it is evident that he has a live interest in all means of acquisition.404 Toward the theory of production, however, his contribution is not large. In the Economics, he recognizes the importance of labor and natural resources in production, and in the Revenues, he sees the necessity of capital.405 But naturally, like Aristotle and the southern planter, he confuses capital with labor, in the person of the slave.406 The fable of the dog and the sheep reveals a knowledge of the machinery of production, and some insight into the proper relation between the employer and the laborer.407 Xenophon’s distinct contribution to future economic thought, however, consists in his appreciation of the fact that economic production has its definite limits; that the same ratio of profits cannot be increased indefinitely by the constant addition of more labor and capital, but that

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