Mediterranean Trade in Biblical Times

25 Pages Posted: 11 Mar 2003

See all articles by Peter Temin

Peter Temin

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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

Temin, Peter, Mediterranean Trade in Biblical Times (March 2003). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=386960 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.386960

Peter Temin (Contact Author)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Economics ( email )

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