Property and Markets: The Uses of Land in Pharaonic Egypt Beyond Redistributive and Neoliberal Approaches

Juan Carlos Moreno García ()
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Juan Carlos Moreno García: Sorbonne University

Chapter Chapter 7 in The Critique of Archaeological Economy, 2021, pp 117-137 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Ancient Egypt has been considered the quintessential example of a redistributive centralized economy. Neo-institutionalism, on the contrary, emphasizes that markets, law, institutions and private property reduced transaction costs, promoted economic rationalism and led to increased economic specialization. Pharaonic Egypt provides some evidence about private possession of land in which markets and a business-oriented mentality operated in a social and economic environment rational but alien to modern capitalist values. Kinship ties limited the emergence of individualist interests, but kings promoted such behaviour in an attempt to curve down the power of noble families. Yet individualist strategies remained limited because institutions (particularly temples and the crown) were crucial in the formation of private land portfolios and narrowed the possibilities for the emergence of a significant market of land.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-72539-6_7

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