This stimulating volume, which consists of an introduction, seven contributions and an epilogue, results from a research project that focuses on the connections between early Christianity and the ancient economy (pp. 1–5). This research project is to be considered highly meritorious, for there is undoubtedly a need for research in the connection between socio-economic and religious-historically oriented historical scholarship (cf. H.-J. Drexhage, RQS 76 [1981]). However, the volume does not deal with this topic directly, but mainly examines the socio-economic significance of euergetism and associations.
A concise definition of the attribute ‘extramercantile’ is given in the first essay by Blanton IV and Hollander (‘The Extramercantile Economy: an Assessment of the New Institutional Economics Paradigm in Relation to Recent Studies of Ancient Greece and Rome’). The authors rightly complain that economic exchange is too often understood as a process carried out exclusively through a ‘market’. The authors forcefully show how this is related to the dominant influence of neoclassical traditions (pp. 8ff.). Furthermore, they trace the development of New Institutional Economics (NIE) in the history of research and show its adaptation and influence on ancient studies (pp. 11ff.). In particular, the ‘history’ of the debate between primitivist and modernist views is briefly treated (pp. 15ff.). It is rightly pointed out that the research situation cannot be simplified to the bipolar primitivism-modernism scheme, but is much more complex. Finally, the influence of anthropology and regulation theory is discussed (pp. 18ff.). Overall, the short history of research seems somewhat selective. Also, an in-depth analysis of extramercantile economic forms remains stuck in the theoretical framework. The various forms of ‘extramercantile’ could have been named more concretely. Despite these remarks, it must be emphasised that this chapter is a very good introduction to the other contributions and undoubtedly addresses an important issue in its emphasis on the importance of NIE.
Fitzgerald, in ‘Early Greek Economic Thought’, discusses economic reflections in authors such as Homer and Hesiod (pp. 29ff.), Xenophon (pp. 32ff.) and others in a convincing study of sources. Of particular interest are the remarks on Bryson's Oikonomikos Logos, which is only poorly known through John of Stobaeus and Arabic traditions (pp. 42ff.). Fitzgerald concludes that ethnic considerations as well as the subsistence economy of the oikos were at the centre of economic thought, even if ‘in actual practice there was almost always some degree of interdependence, especially in times of need’ (p. 46) (cf. M. Hinsch, Ökonomik und Hauswirtschaft [2021]). For Bryson in particular the summary of the essay emphasises that he would have seen and addressed the interdependencies.
In a very readable essay, ‘Benefactors, Markets, and Trust in the Roman East: Civic Munificence as Extramercantile Exchange’, A. Zuiderhoek analyses the importance of trust and the generation of trust through charity. The explanations of euergetism as an extramercantile instrument for generating lasting economic exchange (pp. 52ff.) as well as the discussion of the establishment of social harmony and the emergence of inter-elite competition created by charitable foundations are very convincing. He prudently states: ‘I would suggest that the case of civic euergetism also shows that we should not be too complacent about the possible trust-generating and social harmony-enhancing effects of gift exchange. Surely, these were present, but there was a competitive, disruptive and potentially destructive side to gift exchange as well’ (p. 60). With regard to the behaviour of urban elites described in the sources, he sees a caesura in the third century ce.
M. Domingo Gygax, in ‘Euergetism and the Embedded Economy of the Greek Polis’, offers some terminological remarks on the field of euergetism (pp. 63–4) as well as remarks on the history of scholarship on the theory (pp. 64ff.); his engagement with the theses of G.E.M. de Ste. Croix and others is very readable. He then works out that charity was already common in Greek city states before the Hellenistic period; his assessment of Aristotelian statements is convincing (pp. 69–70). Of central social-historical interest are the exciting remarks on the refusal of gifts and honours (pp. 73ff.); perhaps a more explicit connection to Zuiderhoek's treatment of social harmony could have been made here. Overall, Domingo Gygax's essay convinces with its clear argumentation.
The essay by R. Meyers, ‘The Economic and Cognitive Impacts of Personal Benefaction in Hispania Tarraconensis’, is based on documentary sources. After brief remarks on methodology (pp. 84ff.), quantifying analyses are offered on foundations in Carthago Nova (pp. 90ff.), Barcino (pp. 93ff.) and Castula (pp. 96ff.). The solid analysis of the inscription findings reveals special features. For example, the high proportion of female donors is surprising (p. 89). The reflections on the significance of the foundation for the labour market are informative (p. 100). It is also interesting that games as foundations are less frequently attested in Meyers's source material than buildings. Here she ties in with an interesting study by D. Ng (JRS 105 [2015]), who emphasises an inverse relationship. It could be further elaborated that regular games or cult festivals can be an enormous gain for a local economy, as long as large numbers of people consistently come to the cities (Dion. Chrys. Or. 35.15–16). However, one should not think of ancient cities and settlement as all too immaculate, but in many areas characterised by dilapidated buildings, which in turn could explain the finds (cf. P. Oxy. 54/4441). Overall, Meyers's informative essay is an excellent example of source studies that can yield new and stimulating results in a closed geographical setting.
J.S. Kloppenborg's ‘New Institutional Economics, Euergetism, and Associations’ examines the collegia and their economic significance. He comes to a surprisingly negative conclusion. For him, the collegia had no real economic significance; he disagrees, for example, with the research of W. Broekaert (Anc. Soc. 41 [2011]), who sees a reduction in information costs for members through associations (pp. 114ff.). Kloppenborg is particularly sceptical of the idea that – in line with the abstraction model of NIE – associations create networking and reputation mechanisms for members, which ultimately lead to a reduction in the effort and expense of obtaining economic information. For Kloppenborg, although associations generate social capital for their members (p. 120), an economic benefit arising from social capital cannot be clearly identified. Kloppenborg is certainly right that the common interpretation of associations as a way to reduce transaction costs and as a pool of information for their members is, beyond a certain point, a hypothetical model of research. Nevertheless, large parts of this model seem to me to be covered by the sources. One thinks of the public self-portrayal of associations, which as institutions often present their economic activities, or of the efforts to honour influential individuals who could be important for economic development through public monuments (D. Rohde, MBAH 27 [2009]; Rohde, Zwischen Individuum und Stadtgemeinde [2012]); also the importance of associations for urban Roman supply or the granting of privileges to associations may have been an economic incentive for membership. Even if one can argue for a more positive assessment here – D. Rohde, for example, has recently presented such an assessment (‘Die Getreideversorgung’, in K. Wojciech and P. Eich [edd.], Die Verwaltung der Stadt Rom [2018], pp. 145–65) –, Kloppenborg's arguments are nevertheless very stimulating; this applies in particular to the ideas formulated on pp. 111–12 regarding the benefit of the collegia for taxation (actually a reduction in transaction costs for the state), regarding non-exclusive market access and the non-existent protective function for members.
The last contribution, ‘The Economics of Solidarity: Mutual Aid and Reciprocal Services between Workers in Roman Cities’ by N. Tran, also deals with Roman associations and their socio-economic significance. Tran looks at the importance of common membership, asks about financial solidarity, among other things, and elaborates on the various relationships of trust. As Tran shows, in addition to a horizontal level of equality, there were of course hierarchical levels in the associations, which can be described as vertical. He explains that rich members could control the associations and thereby economic networks. Outsiders would then hardly have been able to participate (p. 139). Tran concludes his well-argued findings with the observation that this form of solidarity, which was shaped by association structures, could be understood as both mercantile and extramercantile. It is exciting to read Kloppenborg's and Tran's essays one after the other and compare the different interpretations.
In a short epilogue, which uses the modern euergetism of Jeff Bezos as a starting point, Hollander and Blanton IV summarise the results of the contributions. An effort to link them with the research project on early Christianity and the ancient economy mentioned at the beginning becomes clear (pp. 147–8). Hollander and Blanton IV rightly emphasise that the topics dealt with in the essays, such as ‘gift giving’ (cf. F. Carlà-Uhink and M. Gori [edd.], Gift Giving and the ‘Embedded’ Economy in the Ancient World [2014]), ‘collegia’ and ‘euergetism’, belong to extramercantile areas that cannot be ignored for a comprehensive understanding of the ancient economy. The study of the ancient economy should not – and one can fully agree with this – be reduced to market exchange (p. 148). With regard to the use of NIE, the concluding assessment in the epilogue remains relatively restrained to sceptical.
Overall, the volume convinces with its thematic coherence and a consistent concept. In all contributions theoretical groundwork is combined with good source work. Not everything in the volume is entirely new, yet there is no doubt that the contributions will be an important starting point for any future research on extramercantile and semimercantile economic structures.
