A palace economy or redistribution economy[1] is a system of economic organisation in which a substantial share of the wealth flows into the control of a centralized secular administration, the palace, and out from there to the general population, which may be allowed its own sources of income, but relies heavily on the wealth redistributed by the palace.
Ancient
Many pre-industrial civilizations practised economies that fit this economic model.
Chinese in the Chou Age
The Chinese used this type of economy very often, always trying to control the population. However, it did work for several hundred years, and in fact aided the population to advance centuries past other nations. Unfortunately, in the 6th and 5th century BC, there was a backlash, resulting in a shortage and famine that lasted the better part of the following century.
Sumerian
Egyptian
Minoan
Minoan civilisation depended economically on the cultivation of wheat, olives, grapes and other products. The Minoan economy also supported several industries such as the textile, pottery and metalwork industries.The palaces were the centres of economic life. Some of the manufacturing industries were based in the palaces. Produce from surrounding farmland was collected, recorded and stored in the palaces as seen from the large number of storerooms and pithoi (storage jars) recovered. The palaces appear to have had an extent of control over overseas trade. The discovery of Linear A and B tablets, listing commodities in the archive areas of the Palace of Knossos, suggests a highly organised bureaucracy and a system of record keeping that controlled all incoming and outgoing products.
Mycenaean
Hittite
Phrygian
Iranian in the Achaemenid period
Middle
Aztec
Inca
Modern
The contemporary economy of North Korea has also been characterized as a palace economy. Entirely state-controlled, it is highly inefficient and therefore the country depends on foreign aid for the survival of its populationcitation needed.
Notes
- ^ de Blois, Lukas; R.J. van der Spek; Susan Mellor (translator) (1997). An Introduction to the Ancient World. Routledge, pages 56-60. ISBN 0415127734.
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