{"id":67,"date":"2025-05-07T14:28:45","date_gmt":"2025-05-07T18:28:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/?p=67"},"modified":"2025-05-07T14:28:45","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T18:28:45","slug":"oikonomia-an-ancient-economics-with-different-priorities-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/2025\/05\/07\/oikonomia-an-ancient-economics-with-different-priorities-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\/","title":{"rendered":"Oikonomia: An Ancient Economics with Different Priorities \u2013 by Dr. Cecil Bohanon and Dr. John Horowitz"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Words and ideas like products and services are constantly changing and being reborn. The textbook definition of modern economics is the scientific study of the allocation of scarce resources between competing uses. Because prices and profits direct much of this allocation, modern economics focuses on market interactions. The tools of supply-demand analysis demonstrate how prices and profits co-ordinate consumer and producer behavior.\u00a0 If consumers want more strawberries, we can be pretty sure the market will accommodate those desires.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559731&quot;:720,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The word economics, however, traces to the Greek word <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubs.aeaweb.org\/doi\/pdfplus\/10.1257\/jep.30.1.225\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">oikonomia<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, which in ancient Greece meant estate management. It is derived from the Greek words <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">oikos<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> meaning household and <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">nemein<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> meaning management. Its focus was directed to the proper operations of large agricultural estates or small family-owned manufacturing units. It had little to say about market-based interactions. In fact, according to Israeli scholar Dotan Leshem, ancient texts on Oikonomia were \u201cinfused\u201d with a \u201cdegree of scorn about market trading.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Unlike modern economics, which assumes that resources are scarce and human wants are endless, <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Oikonomia<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> assumed that resources were abundant enough to provide for all the basic needs of everyone in society. The economic question was if judicious management of an estate generated a surplus beyond basic necessities, what was the proper use of that surplus? Using the surplus to allow the estate owner to participate in politics or philosophy was considered good and proper. Using the surplus to simply generate larger surpluses was deemed mindless and pointless, and using the surplus to support a life of luxury was considered immoral and improper.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The beneficiary of the surplus was presumed to be the wealthy free male who owned the estate and perhaps his other male friends. While everyone else, peasants, slaves, and women, were considered entitled to basic necessities, they were not expected or allowed to enjoy the \u201cgood life\u201d of philosophizing or participating in politics. Though excluded from philosophy and politics, a good wife could serve as an \u201cOikonomos\u201d\u2014a household steward or manager\u2014and be held in high esteem if she increased the estate\u2019s surplus.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">But what if the ordinary people of Greece wanted more strawberries? Oikonomia would not consider how market prices and trade might accommodate that desire. Instead, it would most likely consider if increased strawberry production could advance the estate owner\u2019s prospects in philosophy or politics. Most estates probably wouldn\u2019t consider strawberries to be necessities. Interesting? Yes, but we will take the modern world.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Words and ideas like products and services are constantly changing and being reborn. The textbook definition of modern economics is the scientific study of the allocation of scarce resources between competing uses. Because prices and profits direct much of this allocation, modern economics focuses on market interactions. The tools of supply-demand analysis demonstrate how prices [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[511],"tags":[303,320,715,147,316,711,709,712,717,500,612,97,714,710,713,553,706,362,707,609,318,708,716],"class_list":["post-67","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","tag-competition","tag-consumer","tag-dotan-leshem","tag-economics","tag-estate","tag-estate-management","tag-greek","tag-household","tag-luxury","tag-management","tag-manufacturing","tag-market","tag-nemein","tag-oikonomia","tag-oikos","tag-price","tag-products","tag-profit","tag-resources","tag-scarcity","tag-services","tag-supply-demand-analysis","tag-surplus"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Oikonomia: An Ancient Economics with Different Priorities \u2013 by Dr. Cecil Bohanon and Dr. John Horowitz - Econ Briefs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/people.bsu.edu\/econbriefs\/2025\/05\/07\/oikonomia-an-ancient-economics-with-different-priorities-by-dr-cecil-bohanon-and-dr-john-horowitz\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Oikonomia: An Ancient Economics with Different Priorities \u2013 by Dr. Cecil Bohanon and Dr. John Horowitz - Econ Briefs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Words and ideas like products and services are constantly changing and being reborn. 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