The Oeconomicus: The World's First Book on Economics

The oldest book on economics ever written, now in clear, modern English for the first time.In 362 BC, Xenophon of Athens — soldier, student of Socrates, gentleman farmer — wrote a dialogue about a question that still matters more than any other in a crisis: What is real wealth?His answer: wealth is not gold in a vault. It is the ability to make things produce. A horse is wealth to a man who can ride it. Land is wealth to a man who can farm it. Money itself is not wealth if you do not know how to use it.The Oeconomicus is the book that gave us the word economics, from oikos (household) and nomos (management). It is a Socratic dialogue between three men: Socrates, who claims to know nothing about wealth; Critobulus, a rich young man spending faster than he earns; and Ischomachus, a gentleman farmer whose quiet competence has made him one of the most respected men in Athens.Together they explore:What makes something an asset or a liability, and why the same object can be either, depending on the ownerHow the king of Persia ran his empire, and why he still planted trees with his own handsHow to organize a household, using lessons from a Phoenician warshipHow to choose and train the right people, from a wife to a farm bailiffWhy some farmers prosper while others fail, doing the exact same workWhat separates a true leader from a mere boss, and why that quality may be divineThe original 1888 translation by B. J. Hayes reads like Victorian prose, dense and nearly impenetrable for modern readers. This edition preserves every argument, every story, and every idea, but renders them in natural, clear modern English.Twenty-four centuries old. Still holds. Read more