Routledge Dictionary of Economics, Second Edition
Aristotle, 384–22 BC (B3)
One of the earliest writers on economics who anticipated many later debates on value, money and economic systems.
In the Nichomachean Ethics, Book V, he discussed the nature of value in the context of a discussion of justice; in Topica, he anticipated subsequent ideas of value based on utility He supported the idea of private property on the grounds that it leads to increased production and clearly saw that money has the important functions of serving as a unit of account, a medium of exchange and a store of value.
References
Gordon, B. (1975) Economic Analysis before Adam Smith, London: Macmillan.
Soudek, J. (1952) ‘Aristotle’s theory of exchange: an inquiry into the origin of economic analysis’, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 96:45–75.
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