Economic history of the world

[citation needed] Cattle were probably the first object or physical thing specifically used in a way similar enough to the modern definition of money, that is, as a medium for exchange.

[citation needed] The city states of Sumer developed a trade and market economy based originally on the commodity money of the shekel which was a certain weight measure of barley, while the Babylonians and their city state neighbors later developed the earliest system of prices using a measure of various commodities that was fixed in a legal code.

The first economist (at least from within opinion generated by the evidence of extant writings) is considered to be Hesiod, by the fact of his having written on the fundamental subject of the scarcity of resources, in Works and Days.

[2] Communication between bands occurred for the purposes of trading ideas, stories, tools, foods, animal skins, mates, and other commodities.

Economic resources were constrained by typical ecosystem factors: density and replacement rates of edible flora and fauna, competition from other consumers (organisms) and climate.

[6] It has been estimated that throughout prehistory, the world average GDP per capita was about $158 per annum (inflation adjusted for 2013[clarification needed]), and did not rise much until the Industrial Revolution.

[By the] division of labour and evolution of new crafts ... tribal units became naturally isolated through time from the over-all developments in skill and technique present within their neighbouring environment.

To organize production and to distribute goods and services among their populations, before market economies existed, people relied on tradition, top-down command, or community cooperation.

Cultivation provided complementary carbohydrates in diets, and could potentially produce a surplus to feed off-farm workers enabling the development of diversified and stratified societies (including a standing military and 'leisured class').

Soon after livestock became domesticated particularly in the middle east (goats, sheep, cattle), enabling pastoral societies to develop, to exploit lower productivity grasslands unsuited to agriculture.

The city states of Sumer developed a trade and market economy based originally on the commodity money of the shekel which was a certain weight measure of barley, while the Babylonians and their city state neighbors later developed the earliest system of prices using a measure of various commodities that was fixed in a legal code.

By charging interest and ground rent on their own assets and property, temples helped legitimize the idea of interest‑bearing debt and profit seeking in general.

Later, while the temples no longer included the handicraft workshops which characterized third‑millennium Mesopotamia, in their embassy functions they legitimized profit‑seeking trade, as well as by being a major beneficiary.

The first economist (at least from within opinion generated by the evidence of extant writings) is considered to be Hesiod, by the fact of his having written on the fundamental subject of the scarcity of resources, in Works and Days.

After the voyages of Christopher Columbus et al. opened up new opportunities for trade with the New World and Asia, newly-powerful monarchies wanted a more powerful military state to boost their status.

Mercantilism was a political movement and an economic theory that advocated the use of the state's military power to ensure that local markets and supply sources were protected.

The former began in October 1973 when members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo against countries that supported Israel during the Yom Kippur War leading to the price of oil rising to nearly 300%, from US$3 per barrel ($19/m^3) to nearly $12 per barrel ($75/m^3) globally.

[citation needed] These gains have not been uniform across the globe and there are still many countries where people, and especially young children die from what are now preventable diseases, such as rotovirus and polio.

The global contribution to world's GDP by major economies from 1 CE to 2003 CE according to Angus Maddison's estimates. Up until the early 18th century, China and India were the two largest economies by GDP output. (** X axis of graph has non-linear scale which underestimates the dominance of India and China)
The global contribution to world's GDP by major economies from 1 CE to 2003 CE according to Angus Maddison's estimates. [ 8 ] Up until the early 18th century, India and China were the two largest economies by GDP output.
A collection of clay bullae , accounting tokens , and tablets used to facilitate accounting in ancient Mesopotamia, Oriental Institute Museum
Lydian stater coins made from a mixture of silver, gold, and electrum , c. 6th century BC
A Watt steam engine , the steam engine fuelled primarily by coal that propelled the Industrial Revolution in Britain and the world. [ a ]
World GDP per capita in dollars during the twentieth century. Data before 1950 is not annual. [ clarification needed ]