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[The following is a response to Michael Perelman's suggestion 
(http://www.eh.net/Archives/hes/jun-97/0042.html) that we read Karl 
Polanyi: The Great Transformation. -- RBE] 
 
Michael, 
 
Polanyi's Great Transformation, and its further elaboration in the 
posthumously published Livlihood of Man (Academic Press, 1981), is still 
thought provoking.  The notion that "...previously to our time no 
economy has ever existed that, even in principle, was controlled by 
markets" [GT, p.43] is a blockbuster.  But where's the evidence?  In my 
reading about trade in the ancient near east, Greece and Rome, I have 
been surprised at the amount of evidence on prices, on there 
responsiveness to what we think of the forces of supply and demand, and, 
finally, that ancient writers seem no more surprised that small wheat 
crops are associated with high wheat prices than we are [see,e.g., 
Rickman's Corn Supply of Ancient Rome].  Aside from Moses Finley [no 
small aside], I know of no historian or economist who finds Polanyi's 
thesis credible.  
 
Am I missing something?  Can you, or any other list member, point me to 
works that provide evidence in favor of Polanyi's thesis for any period 
prior to the 19th century?  
 
Michael Lynch 
Economist  
Arlington, VA 
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