Mediterranean trade in biblical times
By: Peter Temin
Contributors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Economics
Series: Working paper series / Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics -- working paper 03-12; Working paper (Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Economics) -- no. 03-12.
Publisher: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics
Published: 2003
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 24
Description: This paper demonstrates the presence of Heckscher-Ohlin type trade in bulk commodities in the early Iron Age. I study the trade going across the Mediterranean Sea, where costs of transport were low. I combine evidence from under-water archaeology for the existence of this trade with literary evidence about its organization. I argue that international trade was effected by market transactions well before the invention of coinage. The forces for trade analyzed by Heckscher were strong almost three millennia before he wrote, and they produced extensive trade in Biblical times. Keywords: International Trade, Heckscher-Ohlin, Biblical Era, Ancient History, Shipwrecks. JEL Classification: N75, F14, P52.
Notes: "March 2003."

Includes bibliographical references (p. 22-24).

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