==================== HES POSTING ====================== [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 ============ FOOTER TO HES POSTING ============ For information, send the message "info HES" to [log in to unmask]