ABSTRACT
The Hebrew scriptures and other ancient records would perhaps repay more economic study than they have yet received. How unintelligently most people read the Old Testament is shown by the fact that few, if any, of us can remember wondering why there is no account in the historical books of an actual year of Jubilee. According to Leviticus, chapter xxv, every fiftieth year should have been marked by an immense reversion of property to owners who had temporarily alienated it up to that date, and yet we hear nothing of forcible evictions or leasehold enfranchisement associations. But though much of economic interest might be found in those old legends and records, I doubt if the most patient research even if combined with a fairly active imagination would find in them much with which to fill a doctoral dissertation on " Ancient Jewish Economic Theory."
