Abstract
In contemporary societies interest-bearing commercial loans play a key role in allocating scarce resources to the most valuable of their alternative uses. Did ancient Israel know such loans? Unfortunately, neither the Bible nor archaeology provides definitive answers. The Bible does make numerous references to loans and interest but the motives of the borrower are not explained. When, rarely, we are told something of the debtor’s circumstances (for instance, the impoverished widow of 2 Kings 4:1)1, they seem so dire that we are inclined to assume the loan could only have been for the purpose of consumption.
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© 1983 Kluwer-Nijhoff Publishing
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Silver, M. (1983). The Market for Factors of Production: Commercial Loans, Slavery, and Land Consolidation. In: Prophets and Markets. Social Dimensions of Economics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7418-0_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7418-0_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-009-7420-3
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-7418-0
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