Economic Analysis of Ancient Greek Inscriptions and Literary Texts

Abstract While the economic modeling of history has largely relied on stylized facts, we argue that, relying on complexity sciences, one can directly exploit the primary sources made available in digitized form, in particular for ancient Greece. We frame these textual corpora within an economic perspective, and interpret linguistic and social behaviors as outcomes of cost-minimization strategies, coordination games, and network effects. We analyze how material constraints, social incentives, and optimization principles shape textual production and naming conventions. The economic framework in which we embed our interpretation of the data furthers our understanding of ancient Greek society, and applying modern economic concepts to this ancient society also extends our understanding of core economic principles.