Vol. 7 No. 1 (2023)
Editor Reviewed Articles

Population and Steady-State Economy in Plato and Aristotle

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  • Theodore Lianos
Theodore Lianos
Athens University of Economics and Business
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3197/JPS.63799953906862

Published 2022-12-14 — Updated on 2023-02-03

Keywords

  • Aristotle,
  • Plato,
  • steady state economy,
  • population

How to Cite

Lianos, Theodore. 2023. “Population and Steady-State Economy in Plato and Aristotle”. The Journal of Population and Sustainability 7 (1):123–138. https://doi.org/10.3197/JPS.63799953906862.

Copyright (c) 2022 Theodore Lianos

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Abstract

The basic ideas of the modern steady-state economy model can be found in the writings of the two major ancient Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotle. Plato in his Laws and Aristotle in his Politics discuss the optimal relationship between population and available land that would give enough wealth to the city and allow the citizens to enjoy the best life. They discuss questions of income inequality and approaches to population control. The guiding thought in these models is what the two philosophers define as the ‘best life’.

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References

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