Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/260151 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 2015:13
Publisher: 
Lund University, School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Lund
Abstract: 
Perikles is usually seen as a great statesman and clever leader of the Athenians. In the mid fifth century BC, he seems however to have been in serious political trouble and may well have been in danger of losing the struggle for power and of being ostracised. The fact that his incentives changed considerably at this point in time is ignored in traditional historical accounts. In contrast, we see the fierce competition as a motivation for several important policy measures introduced by Perikles at this particular time: the pay to jurors, the new law on citizenship (which has been a puzzle to many historians), and the building projects on the Acropolis and elsewhere. Compared to traditional analyses, an economic rational-actor approach thus provides a diachronic analytical benefit by focusing on the way incentives change over time and it provides a synchronic benefit by dealing with various decisions in a common framework.
Subjects: 
economics
ancient history
Athens
Perikles
law on citizenship
Parthenon
payment to jurors
JEL: 
B40
K37
N43
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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