Here is an excerpt from a couple of articles I found on Ancient Egypt. This came up in another thread. Is this assessment accurate? Does anyone know different?
http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/economy/index.html The ancient Egyptian economy
The economy of pharaonic Egypt has been called an ancient command economy, but one should always remember that such modern definitions are not as apt as one would hope for.[2] Still, there was a specialized bureaucracy which monitored or controlled much of its activity, one of the hallmarks of planned economies. On the other hand, in general the officials—as state employees and not as private landowners or managers of state farms—probably did not tell farmers what to grow and these continued to do what their predecessors had done. But they remeasured and reassigned the land after every inundation based on past assignments, assessed the expected crops, collected part of the produce as taxes, stored and redistributed it to those on the state's pay lists. Storage and redistribution were generally done on a local basis. Regional facilities provided produce in case there was a shortfall in one of the local centres.
Bureaucrats were also in charge of public works which were mostly religious in character and involved at times tens of thousands of workers and administrators.
Egypt was a patchwork of mostly autarkic households and domains. After the taxes were paid, domain administrators and successful householders stored surpluses for future use or exchanged them by barter on the market, an institution the nature of which is remarkably badly understood. The percentage of produce and even manufactured goods which reached markets was probably small. It may have been of marginal importance to the survival of the individual producer, but provided part of the economic base for the developing Egyptian high culture.
Much of the trade beyond local exchanges is thought to have been in the hands of wholesale merchants acting for the crown or the great temple estates. The extent to which private individuals were involved in trading cannot be estimated. Market forces seem to have played a role above all during the periods when the administration broke down.
Major changes to the early barter system began to occur only with the influx of foreigners and the introduction of coined money in the Late Period.
PLAYER57832 wrote:
Bureaucrats were also in charge of public works ... After the taxes were paid, domain administrators and successful householders stored surpluses for future use or exchanged them by barter on the market ... local exchanges is thought to have been in the hands of wholesale merchants
DULLEST
THREAD
EVER
.
Thanks, gang!
STX
Pack Rat wrote:if it quacks like a duck and walk like a duck, it's still fascism
PLAYER57832 wrote:Here is an excerpt from a couple of articles I found on Ancient Egypt. This came up in another thread. Is this assessment accurate? Does anyone know different?
http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/economy/index.html The ancient Egyptian economy
The economy of pharaonic Egypt has been called an ancient command economy, but one should always remember that such modern definitions are not as apt as one would hope for.[2] Still, there was a specialized bureaucracy which monitored or controlled much of its activity, one of the hallmarks of planned economies. On the other hand, in general the officials—as state employees and not as private landowners or managers of state farms—probably did not tell farmers what to grow and these continued to do what their predecessors had done. But they remeasured and reassigned the land after every inundation based on past assignments, assessed the expected crops, collected part of the produce as taxes, stored and redistributed it to those on the state's pay lists. Storage and redistribution were generally done on a local basis. Regional facilities provided produce in case there was a shortfall in one of the local centres.
Bureaucrats were also in charge of public works which were mostly religious in character and involved at times tens of thousands of workers and administrators.
Egypt was a patchwork of mostly autarkic households and domains. After the taxes were paid, domain administrators and successful householders stored surpluses for future use or exchanged them by barter on the market, an institution the nature of which is remarkably badly understood. The percentage of produce and even manufactured goods which reached markets was probably small. It may have been of marginal importance to the survival of the individual producer, but provided part of the economic base for the developing Egyptian high culture.
Much of the trade beyond local exchanges is thought to have been in the hands of wholesale merchants acting for the crown or the great temple estates. The extent to which private individuals were involved in trading cannot be estimated. Market forces seem to have played a role above all during the periods when the administration broke down.
Major changes to the early barter system began to occur only with the influx of foreigners and the introduction of coined money in the Late Period.
This cannot be accurate, because I don't see a single reference to a StarGate here.
...I prefer a man who will burn the flag and then wrap himself in the Constitution to a man who will burn the Constitution and then wrap himself in the flag.
