%0 Thesis
%9 Master
%A Visser, Fieke H. L.
%D 2016
%F theses_frw:2538
%T Societal economic performance of primary civilizations: A quantitative, comparative analysis of Mesopotamia, the Aztec empire, ancient Egypt and ancient China
%U https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/2538/
%X Whereas for the industrial revolution many studies have been conducted about its economic underpinnings and the potential effect of the industrial revolution on economic performance levels, very few studies investigate changes in economic performance levels of societies during that other, human history changing transformation, namely, the “urban revolution”. Though cities play an increasingly important role in modern life and the UN has proclaimed the current millennium the  ‘Urban millennium’, it appears that the economic impact of the first wave of urbanization that human mankind encountered is still largely a black box. In this exploratory study, the economic performance levels through time for four primary civilizations have been reconstructed. The main conclusion of this research is, contrary to what is often assumed, that economic growth ánd decline were far from nonexistent in primary civilizations.