"This exciting new volume examines the development of market performance from Antiquity until the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Efficient market structures are agreed by most economists to serve as evidence of economic prosperity, and to be prerequisites for further economic growth....

Silver, Money and Credit gathers a collection of contributions by leading specialists on the role of silver in Ancient Mesopotamia. The volume is a tribute to Robartus J. van der Spek, professor emeritus at the VU University Amsterdam. The thematic core area is the documentation concerning...

pt. 1. Methodology -- pt. 2. Market performance in Babylonia and the Mediterranean in antiquity -- pt. 3. Market performance from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century -- pt. 4. Markets and money -- pt. 5. Long-term patterns -- pt. 6. Conclusion.