Tracing the Optimal Level of Political and Social Change under Risks and Uncertainties: Some Lessons from Ancient Sparta and Athens
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. The Nexus between Financial and Sociopolitical Risks: A Review
3. Defining Further Political and Social Change in Democratic Regimes
4. Sparta: The Structure of Political and Economic Institutions
4.1. Political Institutions
4.2. Economic Institutions
5. Evaluation of Sparta’s Political and Social System
5.1. Rigidity in Managing Geopolitics and Internal Political Affairs
5.2. Failure to Adapt to New Trends in Military Organization
5.3. Failure to Establish a Series of Necessary Socioeconomic Changes
5.4. A Comprehensive Assessment of the Socioeconomic and Political System of Sparta
6. Athens: An Adaptable Society with Collective Decision-Making Procedures
6.1. The Political Structure
6.2. The Economy
7. Reducing Systemic Risks When Institutional and Political Change Occurs: Athens during the 4th Century
“Even though the nomothetai gave final approval to the laws in the fourth century, it was the Assembly that initiated all laws and submitted them to the nomothetai. Their authority derived from the citizens of Athens, which is why they were called the laws of the Athenians (not the laws of the nomothetai).”
8. Concluding Remarks
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
1 | A notion that derives from financial economics. |
2 | Due to space limitations, we cannot retrieve all of this bibliography here, but only a representative part of it. |
3 | The term refers to the so-called Delian League or Athenian Alliance of the 478–404 period. It was an association/military alliance of more than 300 Greek city-states, under the leadership of Athens, whose initial purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire. Gradually, Athens acquired a hegemonic role within it. For a financial aspect regarding the functioning of the Alliance, see Figueira and Jensen (2021). |
4 | Neodamodeis (new citizens) were given citizenship whenever the state deemed it necessary, mainly, we guess, when the city needed to replenish the ranks of the citizens after severe manpower losses, such as after the earthquake of about 461 BCE, the losses from the Peloponnesian War, and the crushing defeats of the Spartan army by the Thebans and Boeotians in 371 and 362 BCE. |
5 | Only Athenian male citizens enjoyed full political rights. Slaves, metics (citizens that came to Athens from other city-states for work) and women were excluded from political participation. |
6 | See, among others, Cohen (1992), Ober (2008), Halkos and Kyriazis (2010), Lyttkens (2013), Bergh and Lyttkens (2014), Bitros et al. (2020), Economou et al. (2021a, 2021b), Halkos et al. (2021, 2022) and the references cited therein. |
7 | One talent was equal to 6000 drachmae. As a measure of comparison, the daily wage of an unskilled worker during the 4th century BCE was 1.5 drachmae. |
8 | Due to space limitations, we cannot retrieve all this evidence here, but a detailed analysis of such legal and judicial procedures is provided by Schwartzberg (2004), Harris (2013), Lyttkens et al. (2018) and Canevaro (2018), among others. |
9 | They were members of the nine archons, an ex-aristocratic body. |
10 |
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---|---|
PR negatively affects financial markets | (Stiglitz 1993) |
A strong nexus between PR, economic risks and FR in general | (Alesina et al. 1992; Alesina and Perotti 1996; Georgiou et al. 2015; Kirikkaleli 2020) |
A strong nexus between PR and economic governance | (North 1990; Weingast 1993; Uhlenbruck et al. 2006) |
A strong nexus between PR and the financial sector in general | (Bekaert et al. 2014) |
PR negatively affects firms’ profitability and survivability | (Faccio et al. 2006; Tran et al. 2021) |
PR negatively affects investments | (Barro 1991; Kinsella and Rubins 2005; Tabassam et al. 2016) |
PR negatively affects the stock market | (Charfeddine and Al Refai 2019; Wang 2019) |
PR discourages multinational companies from entering a market | (Henisz and Delios 2001; Delios and Henisz 2003; Uhlenbruck et al. 2006) |
Geopolitical risks, which are directly related to PR, affect the financial sector and markets | (Caldara and Iacoviello 2022; Economou and Kyriazis 2021; Kyriazis and Economou 2021) |
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Halkos, G.E.; Economou, E.M.L.; Kyriazis, N.C. Tracing the Optimal Level of Political and Social Change under Risks and Uncertainties: Some Lessons from Ancient Sparta and Athens. J. Risk Financial Manag. 2022, 15, 416. https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm15090416
Halkos GE, Economou EML, Kyriazis NC. Tracing the Optimal Level of Political and Social Change under Risks and Uncertainties: Some Lessons from Ancient Sparta and Athens. Journal of Risk and Financial Management. 2022; 15(9):416. https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm15090416
Chicago/Turabian StyleHalkos, George E., Emmanouil M. L. Economou, and Nicholas C. Kyriazis. 2022. "Tracing the Optimal Level of Political and Social Change under Risks and Uncertainties: Some Lessons from Ancient Sparta and Athens" Journal of Risk and Financial Management 15, no. 9: 416. https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm15090416