Introduction
Greek era gave the name economics ((Oikonomia - law of the household) and many moral insights in economics. It anticipated many of the founding economic principles for which the discipline remains ever indebted to the Greek era*.
Under the Mediterranean tradition (up to Medieval era) economics was considered as a
subset of moral philosophy. In that tradition theology was linked with philosophy to ¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
form the base for all human decisions. Spiritual (divine) and intellectual (rational /
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
philosophical) sources of knowledge guided human actions.
Religious norms, mainly the teachings of Christianity and Islam, were the guiding principles. The main focus was on justice and not exchange under the concept that each working for himself and the community in effect serves God; thus the present is the preparatory stage for the Hereafter. Realization of both individual and collective interest
was the goal. In fact, because of its strong influence in that zone at a later part of the Medieval era, Islam was considered as the ‘guiding light’ behind the Mediterranean
economic thoughts. With its Ummahtic (community) tradition it was a basic reference of collective identity and global vision (2). Economics then had a wider scope.
Taking popularly accepted Greek era as the starting point a plausible periodization of history of economic thought can be as below :
Ancient and Mediterranean Tradition :
Greek era (427 BC – 0 BC)
Roman era (0 – 5th century)
Medieval and Islamic era (5th – 15th century)