The Ancient Greek Economy. Markets, Households and City-States

INDUSTRY STRUCTURE AND INCOME OPPORTUNITIES 163

The framework adumbrated in this chapter provides an important missing

piece in the puzzle of why the sizes of different enterprises in classical Athens

varied. It shows that firm size responded to the same basic rules of microeco-

nomics that determine firm size today, albeit with very different results, owing

to very different levels of technology. A depiction of how the Athenians lived

that takes full account of what they consumed and how they earned an income

would probably look more like a painting by Hieronymous Bosch than by

Raphael: streets humming with the noise, filth and smells of large, busy factories

and crammed with carts transporting their raw materials and finished goods. In

the more salubrious areas small workshops of skilled craftsmen, (metics, freed-

men and citizens), would seek superior returns for their superior skills.

In all these industries, technology has changed the dynamics of competition;

craft potters cannot compete against Wedgwood’s successors, textiles are made

on massive machines and by third world labour, and computer controlled

design and manufacturing has transformed metalwork. It is hard to participate

in manufacturing except on a full-time basis. The implications for social and

political structures have been immense.

NOTES

1 Kron  2011.
2 Clark 2002 : 830–48; Kron 2005 ; Ober 2010a: 9–16.
3 See van Alfen, Chapter 12 in this volume.
4 See Davies 2007 : 352. On slave imports, see Lewis, Chapter 14 in this volume.
5 See Morris 2010 : 30–50.

Potential for

Differentiation

High

Low

Ownership

Labour Slaves

Citizens, metics, freed slaves

Ib. Undifferentiated

Industry

Tanning

Ore processing

Primary food processing

lIb. Undifferentiated Craft

Commodity pottery

General metal work

Secondary food processing

Te xtiles

Ia. Differentiated Industry

Shields

Knives

Luxury Furniture

Cosmetics and

Perfumes

YesNo

Barriers to Entry

Owner + slave(s)

lIa. Differentiated Craft

Bronze armour

Fine textiles

Shoemaking

Decorative pottery

6.6 Competitive Advantage and Industry Structure (P. Acton).