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It examines how Athens and Sparta developed differently between 490–338 BC, linking Athens’ wealthier outcome to institutions tailored to grain scarcity and Sparta’s to sustaining military dominance. In both cases, moral systems improved institutional efficiency, so rapid growth depends on embedding compatible “ethos” through agoge-like formation rather than copying advanced-country institutions.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/morality-institutions-and-economic-growth-lessons-from-ancient-greece-mpra-paper-994/267752/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/morality-institutions-and-economic-growth-lessons-from-ancient-greece-mpra-paper-994/267752.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Hazel","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-06","2026-09-14",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":56},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What does the paper claim about the relationship between morality and economic growth?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Citizens’ morality and character grow alongside core institutions (private property, democracy, and free markets) and support efficient institutional functioning, which in turn promotes economic growth.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Why does the paper compare Athens and Sparta?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It uses their historical economies (490–338 BC) to explain how different institutional setups produced different growth outcomes based on how well institutions matched local scarcity and strategic needs.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What policy lesson does the paper draw for poor countries seeking rapid growth?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Poor countries should not only emulate advanced institutions; they should also build agoge-like systems that shape citizens’ character toward a compatible “ethos,” because growth can be inhibited without generalized morality.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},267752,1789424640,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":56,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":129,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},137441390410,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/2000252f4ab5702993?_k=1776741390130283984","Munich Personal RePEc Archive  \nMorality, institutions and economic growth: Lessons from ancient Greece  \nBitros, George and Karayiannis, Anastassios  \nAthens University of Economics and Business  \n26 November 2006  \nOnline at [https://mpra. ub. uni-muenchen. de/994/](https://mpra. ub. uni-muenchen. de/994/)[ ](https://mpra. ub. uni-muenchen. de/994/)[MPRA Paper No. 994](MPRA Paper No. 994) , [posted 01 Dec 2006 UTC](posted 01 Dec 2006 UTC)  \nMorality, institutions and economic growth:  \nLessons from ancient Greece*  \nBy  \nGeorge C. Bitros 1 and Anastassios D. Karayiannis2  \nAbstract  \nWe show that the character and the morality of citizens are important ingredients of economic growth because they go hand in hand with the great institutions of private property, democracy, and free markets. Our approach enables us to establish this result by reference to the structure and performance of the ancient economies of Athens and Sparta during the period 490-338 BC. Athens grew vastly wealthier than Sparta essentially because its institutions were optimally adjusted to confront the basic scarcity of grains, whereas the institutions of Sparta were optimally adjusted to sustain its military supremacy. However, in both cases there emerged systems of morality, which secured the operating efficiency of their institutions. Therefore, poor countries in search of potent strategies for rapid economic growth should not just try to emulate the institutions of economically advanced countries. At the same time, they should put the emphasis of their efforts to setting up agoge systems, so as to infuse into the character of their citizens compatible “ethos”. For, without the latter, no matter how successfully they adapt the institutions of democracy and free markets, rapid economic growth will be inhibited from the lack of an environment of generalized morality. In this regard, the ideal type model of agoge is the one that prevailed in ancient Athens 25 centuries ago.  \nJEL Classification: O10, B11, N30  \nKeywords: ancient Greece, morality, institutions, economic growth  \n1 Professor, Department of Economics, Athens University of Economics and Business, 76 Patission St, 10434, Athens, Greece.  \n2 Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Piraeus, 80, Karaoli & Dimitriou, 18534, Piraeus, Greece.  \nCorresponding Author:  \nAnastassios D. Karayiannis  \nDepartment of Economics  \nUniversity of Piraeus  \nTel: 22970-22258 Fax: 210-4142301  \nE-mail: [adkar@unipi.gr](adkar@unipi.gr)  \n* Acknowledgements: We wish to thank, T. Amemiya, C. Perrotta, C. Baloglou, T. Lianos, and I. PepelasisMinoglou, for their valuable comments and suggestions. The usual disclaimer applies.  \n2  \n(From a dialogue between Pope Benedict XIV and Voltaire somewhere in the grateful memory of mankind)  \nVoltaire: I still think that philosophers can dispense with morality.  \nPope Benedict XIV: How naïve you are. Are children capable of philosophy? Can children reason? Society is based upon morality, morality is based upon character, character is formed in childhood and youth long before reason can be a guide. We must infuse morality into the individual when he is young and malleable; then it may be strong enough to withstand his individualistic impulses, even his individualistic reasoning. I am afraid you began to think too soon. The intellect is constitutional individualist, and when it is uncontrolled by morality it can tear society to pieces.  \nDurant and Durant, (1967), The Story of Civilization, The Age of Voltaire, vol. 9, 791.  \n1. Introduction  \nThinking and policy advice about questions relating to economic development have changed dramatically over the last 50 years. In the two decades following World War II economists thought, and policy advisors from international organizations suggested to poor countries, that the quickest road to development was to save and invest, in order to accumulate modern and hence more productive capital, to educate their labor force","cbCaik8VdmbSL930","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaik8VdmbSL930","pdf",320382,38,"English","# Abstract\n# Introduction\n## Development policy after World War II\n## Geography hypothesis and its limits\n## Institutions and property rights","[{\"question\":\"What does the paper claim about the relationship between morality and economic growth?\",\"answer\":\"Citizens’ morality and character grow alongside core institutions (private property, democracy, and free markets) and support efficient institutional functioning, which in turn promotes economic growth.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the paper compare Athens and Sparta?\",\"answer\":\"It uses their historical economies (490–338 BC) to explain how different institutional setups produced different growth outcomes based on how well institutions matched local scarcity and strategic needs.\"},{\"question\":\"What policy lesson does the paper draw for poor countries seeking rapid growth?\",\"answer\":\"Poor countries should not only emulate advanced institutions; they should also build agoge-like systems that shape citizens’ character toward a compatible “ethos,” because growth can be inhibited without generalized morality.\"}]","Morality, institutions and economic growth: Lessons from ancient Greece - MPRA Paper 994 | PDF",96]