Introduction

This introductory chapter explains the purpose of the book and its organization. It introduces the reader to the main theme of the book: an attempt to “revive” the way of life in Ancient Athens of the second half of the fourth century BCE. It explains why this is useful and interesting not only from an (economic) historian’s perspective, but also from those scholars and interested readers (in general) who wish to find answers in questions such as what system of governance is democracy, which is the nexus between democracy and economic performanceEconomicperformance, how democracy functioned in Classical AthensAthensclassical, and if and how can modern economic policymakers be inspired by the functioning of the Athenian political and economic institutionsEconomicinstitutions for improving the current institutional setting regarding governance. This introductory chapter further provides a brief description of the variety of the issues that are discussed and analyzed through the book.