Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-mp689 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T01:31:02.512Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Athenian Trierarchy: Mechanism Design for the Private Provision of Public Goods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 May 2007

Brooks A. Kaiser
Brooks A. Kaiser
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Gettysburg College, Box 391, 300 N. Washington St., Gettysburg, PA 17325. E-mail: bkaiser@gettysburg.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The liturgical system in Classical Athens (479–322 BCE) privately provided public goods, including naval defense. I use it to evaluate mechanism design policies and to address uncertainties in the historical record by adding predictive economic theory to research by ancient historians. I evaluate the system's success at meeting the conflicting goals of efficiency, feasibility, and budget balance by analyzing the Athenian citizens' incentives within a game of asymmetric information. In the game, multiple equilibria occur; citizens may or may not volunteer for duty or avoid it. I relate the game theoretic findings to historical events.

Type
ARTICLES
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 67 , Issue 2 , June 2007 , pp. 445 - 480
Copyright
© 2007 The Economic History Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERARY TEXTS

Carter L. B. The Quiet Athenian. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986.
Casson Lionel. Ships and Seafaring in Ancient Times. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996.
Cawkwell George L. “Athenian Naval Power in the Fourth Century.” Classical Quarterly 34, no. ii (1984): 334-45.Google Scholar
Cohen Edward. Athenian Economy and Society: A Banking Perspective. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992.
Davies John K. Athenian Propertied Families: 600-300 BC. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971.
Davies John K.. Wealth and the Power of Wealth in Classical Athens. New York: Arno Press, 1981.
Finley Moses I. Studies in Land and Credit in Ancient Athens 500-200 BC. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1952.
Finley Moses I.. The Ancient Economy. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.
Fudenberg Drew, and Jean Tirole. Game Theory. Cambridge, MA: M.I.T. Press, 1992.
Gabrielsen Vincent. “Diadikasia Documents.” Classica et Mediaevalia 38 (1987): 39-51.Google Scholar
Gabrielsen Vincent. Financing the Athenian Fleet: Public Taxation and Social Relations. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994.
Jordan Borimir. “Metic Trierarchs.” The Ancient History Bulletin 15 no. 3 (2001): 131-34.Google Scholar
Lyttkens Carl H. “Effects of the Taxation of Wealth in Athens in the Fourth Century B.C.” Scandinavian Economic History Review 40, no. 2 (1992): 3-20.Google Scholar
Lyttkens Carl H.. “A Rational-Actor Perspective on the Origin of Liturgies in Ancient Greece.” Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 153 (1997): 462-83.Google Scholar
Millett Paul “Maritime Loans and the Structure of Credit in Fourth-Century Athens.” In Trade in the Ancient Economy, edited by Peter Garnsey, Keith Hop-kins, and C. R. Whittaker, 36-52, 186-89. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.
Osborne Robin. Demos: The Discovery of Classical Attika. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
Rahe Paul A. “The Primacy of Politics in Classical Greece.” American Historical Review 89 (1984): 265-93.Google Scholar
Rosivach Vincent J. “Manning the Athenian Fleet.” American Journal of Ancient History 10, no. 1 (1985): 41-66.Google Scholar
Shipton Kirsty. Leasing and Lending: The Cash Economy in Fourth-Century BC Athens. London: Institute of Classical Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, 2000.
Silverman David L. “The Trierarchy and Athenian Civic Identity.” Ph.D. diss., Uni-versity of California, Berkeley, 1994.
Traill John S. The Political Organization of Attica. Princeton, NJ: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1975.
Wallinga H. T. Ships and Sea-Power before the Great Persian War: The Ancestry of the Ancient Trireme. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1993.
Whitehead David. “Competitive Outlay and Community Profit: ? in Democratic Athens.” Classica et Mediaevalia 34 (1983): 55-74.Google Scholar
Whitehead David. The Demes of Attica 508/7-CA.250 BC. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1986.
Wilson Peter. The Athenian Institution of the Khoregia: The Chorus, the City, and the Stage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Aristotle. Athenaion Politeia: 21.2, 22.7
Demosthenes. 4. First Phillipic: 21, 36
Demosthenes. 14. On the Symmories: 16
Demosthenes. 21. Against Meidias: 78
Demosthenes. 42. Against Phainippus: 25
Herodotus. 7.144
Thucydides. 1.14, 1.74, 1.112, 8.1.
Inscriptiones Graecae
II2: 1604–1632
II2: 1928–1932
Carter L. B. The Quiet Athenian. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986.
Casson Lionel. Ships and Seafaring in Ancient Times. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996.
Cawkwell George L. “Athenian Naval Power in the Fourth Century.” Classical Quarterly 34, no. ii (1984): 334-45.Google Scholar
Cohen Edward. Athenian Economy and Society: A Banking Perspective. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992.
Davies John K. Athenian Propertied Families: 600-300 BC. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971.
Davies John K.. Wealth and the Power of Wealth in Classical Athens. New York: Arno Press, 1981.
Finley Moses I. Studies in Land and Credit in Ancient Athens 500-200 BC. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1952.
Finley Moses I.. The Ancient Economy. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.
Fudenberg Drew, and Jean Tirole. Game Theory. Cambridge, MA: M.I.T. Press, 1992.
Gabrielsen Vincent. “Diadikasia Documents.” Classica et Mediaevalia 38 (1987): 39-51.Google Scholar
Gabrielsen Vincent. Financing the Athenian Fleet: Public Taxation and Social Relations. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994.
Jordan Borimir. “Metic Trierarchs.” The Ancient History Bulletin 15 no. 3 (2001): 131-34.Google Scholar
Lyttkens Carl H. “Effects of the Taxation of Wealth in Athens in the Fourth Century B.C.” Scandinavian Economic History Review 40, no. 2 (1992): 3-20.Google Scholar
Lyttkens Carl H.. “A Rational-Actor Perspective on the Origin of Liturgies in Ancient Greece.” Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 153 (1997): 462-83.Google Scholar
Millett Paul “Maritime Loans and the Structure of Credit in Fourth-Century Athens.” In Trade in the Ancient Economy, edited by Peter Garnsey, Keith Hop-kins, and C. R. Whittaker, 36-52, 186-89. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.
Osborne Robin. Demos: The Discovery of Classical Attika. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
Rahe Paul A. “The Primacy of Politics in Classical Greece.” American Historical Review 89 (1984): 265-93.Google Scholar
Rosivach Vincent J. “Manning the Athenian Fleet.” American Journal of Ancient History 10, no. 1 (1985): 41-66.Google Scholar
Shipton Kirsty. Leasing and Lending: The Cash Economy in Fourth-Century BC Athens. London: Institute of Classical Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, 2000.
Silverman David L. “The Trierarchy and Athenian Civic Identity.” Ph.D. diss., Uni-versity of California, Berkeley, 1994.
Traill John S. The Political Organization of Attica. Princeton, NJ: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1975.
Wallinga H. T. Ships and Sea-Power before the Great Persian War: The Ancestry of the Ancient Trireme. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1993.
Whitehead David. “Competitive Outlay and Community Profit: ? in Democratic Athens.” Classica et Mediaevalia 34 (1983): 55-74.Google Scholar
Whitehead David. The Demes of Attica 508/7-CA.250 BC. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1986.
Wilson Peter. The Athenian Institution of the Khoregia: The Chorus, the City, and the Stage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

LITERARY TEXTS

Aristotle. Athenaion Politeia: 21.2, 22.7
Demosthenes. 4. First Phillipic: 21, 36
Demosthenes. 14. On the Symmories: 16
Demosthenes. 21. Against Meidias: 78
Demosthenes. 42. Against Phainippus: 25
Herodotus. 7.144
Thucydides. 1.14, 1.74, 1.112, 8.1.

EPIGRAPHICAL TEXTS

Inscriptiones Graecae
II2: 1604–1632
II2: 1928–1932