Our conclusions as to the importance and influence of Greek economic thought have been fully presented in the previous discussion. A brief summary of the results, however, may be of advantage now, at the close of our survey. As seen above, despite the fact that Greek thought in this field was incidental to moral and political speculation, and despite a certain philosophic prejudice and limited economic vision, the contribution is by no means merely negative. We have seen that it included a recognition by one or more Greek thinkers of such important principles as the following: that society finds its origin in mutual need, and in the natural development of clan and family, not in the artificial social contract; that the state is a great business association, in which about the same economic laws apply as in private economy; that the final goal of economics is not property but human welfare; that the criteria of economic value are intrinsic utility, economic demand, and cost of production; that wealth must possess the quality of storableness; that true wealth consists only of commodities that minister to human welfare; that the three factors in production are land, labor and capital; that money originated in necessary exchange; that it serves as a medium of exchange, a standard of value, and a ticket of deferred payments; that it should possess intrinsic value, which is more stable than that of other commodities; that it should not be confused with wealth, but should be understood in its true function as representative wealth; that credit must play an exceedingly important part in business operations as representative capital; that agriculture is the basal industry, on which all others must depend; that the division of labor is the fundamental principle at the foundation of all exchange; that it results in certain important economic advantages, and that its extensive application depends upon large commercial development; that reciprocity is the fundamental principle in exchange, as also in the social structure; that exchange performs a legitimate social function in creating time and place values; that industrial expansion is limited by a law of diminishing returns; that the primary purpose of exchange should not be profit, but satisfaction of economic need; that commerce merely for its own sake does not necessarily increase the national store, but may produce only economic inequalities; that extremes of wealth and poverty cause industrial inefficiency, social strife, and crime; that excessive individual wealth is not usually compatible with just acquisition or just expenditure; that it also necessarily implies corresponding extremes of poverty; that the commercial spirit in nations is the chief cause of international differences; that the goal of economics is consumption rather than production, and that foolish consumption results in great economic waste; that all economic problems are moral problems; that private property is not a natural right, but a gift of society, and therefore that society may properly control its activities; that there is a certain unity in human nature, which is opposed to the doctrine of natural slavery; that the individual should have opportunity for personal development in accord with his capacities, aside from the mere struggle for physical existence; that true economic equality does not demand equal shares for all, but shares proportioned to capacities and services; and that gifts of charity merely for consumption are fruitful causes of poverty and indolence.

Besides the recognition of such principles, we have seen that many practical suggestions for the amelioration of economic and social conditions, which are being seriously presented today, were first proposed by Greek thinkers. Measures for the divorce of government from big business, state control of natural monopolies, conservation of natural resources, state supervision of trade and commerce, including regulation of prices and rates, publicity in business, pure food laws, and the socialization of industry and its products were all first proposed by Greeks. On the other hand, we have seen that practically all the modern stock arguments against socialism were long ago presented by Aristotle, and that the ideal of the Greek socialist was not primarily materialistic and selfish, as the modern, but moral and social.

Such a list of positive economic principles and practical suggestions should surely give the Greeks some claim to recognition in the field of economic thought. But they should be judged primarily, not by their positive contribution to economic theory or by the practical nature of their suggestions for legislation, but rather by the extent to which they realized the existence of the great economic and social problems, which are still crying for a solution. From this standpoint, we have seen that Plato and Aristotle especially reveal remarkable economic insight. Moreover, there still remains the outstanding fact that the Greeks were the forerunners of the moral, humanitarian, and social emphasis in present-day economy. This alone should give to them a distinct place in the evolution of economic thought, and should make it impossible for Souchon to conclude: “Ces mépris [of G. B. Say] sont pour nous apparaître plus justifiés que les admirations de Roscher.”^[1060]

The influence of Greek thought upon later economic theory, however, seems not to have been very direct or extensive, probably owing to the incidental nature of their speculation. To be sure, mediaeval economic thought presents, in many respects, an unbroken continuity with the Greek. In their emphasis on the moral, in their doctrines on usury, just price, importance of agriculture, exchange for profit, and in their general conservative attitude toward money and commercial development, mediaeval thinkers are very similar to the Socratics.^[1061] Doubtless much of this similarity may be traced to the direct influence of Aristotle, as is especially evident in the work of Thomas Aquinas and Nicholas Oresme.^[1062] To a considerable extent, however, the economic ideas of the Middle Ages were a direct outgrowth of the economic and religious conditions under which the writers lived.^[1063] In the following centuries, some Greek influence may be traced in Adam Smith, in the physiocrats,^[1064] in utopian writers such as More, and in eighteenth-century thinkers like Rousseau.

It is usually asserted that the economic thought of the past century has been practically unaffected by Greek ideas. But our previous discussion has clearly shown that Plato and Xenophon, at least, dominated the economic thinking of Ruskin. If further evidence is needed, it is necessary only to turn to the names of Greek thinkers in the index to the monumental new edition of his works, which we have frequently cited above. He frankly and enthusiastically presents himself as an apostle of a “Greek theory of economics.”^[1065] But despite some of his utopian and extravagant ideas, he is being ever more recognized by authorities in economics as having been one of the chief factors in the development of political economy to its present moral and humanitarian emphasis.^[1066] His repudiation of the abstract “economic man,” his insistence upon human, moral, and social ideals in economics, his attempt to broaden the definition of economic value and wealth by emphasizing true utility, his constant stress upon proper consumption rather than upon production, his demand that all have opportunity up to their capacity, his opposition to the laissez-faire policy in economics and politics, his emphasis upon right education, all have borne rich and abiding fruit in the last few decades, and these are all distinctively Greek ideas, as we have seen above. Thus indirectly, through Ruskin, Greek economic thought has exerted a potent influence upon the evolution of nineteenth-century economics, and thus there is much truth in the words of Wagner, as quoted by Oncken,^[1067] not merely for German, but for all modern economy: “Es ist im Grunde uralter wahrhaft classischer Boden, auf den jetzt die deutsche ökonomische und soziale Theorie und Praxis sich bewusst wieder stellen.” Souchon’s characterization of Greek economy as “morale étatisme”^[1068] could well be applied to much in the economic thought of today.