Mediterranean Trade in Biblical Times
25 Pages Posted: 11 Mar 2003
Date Written: March 2003
Abstract
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
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation