About Regional Economic Thought
About Regional Economic Thought

Summary/Abstract: Georgia is a small country but it is one of the ancient states in the world that has its unique alphabet. Unfortunately, a considerable part of its territory has been occupied. The country lacks the experience in building the market economy. Interesting economic thoughts originated in Georgia in various historical epochs, which still deserve close attention. In particular, the feudal age in Georgia gave way to multiple economic thoughts that are still significant these days. One of them is a Code of Laws of Beka and Agbug (XIII-XIV cc.) published in Georgian, which, first of all, covers the issues of regional governance. Some mercantilist ideas expressed in the Code precede the creation of the School of Mercantilism. The Code is an important historical source for market economy researchers, because it determined several essential issues of the economy in general, and agriculture, industry and financial-credit relations, in particular. The Code includes several noteworthy opinions concerning the possibility to hire a labour force and labour remuneration, which to some extent was an innovation for the thinking of that age. Economic ideas expressed in one of the important written sources of Georgian (and not only Georgian) economic thinking correspond not only to regional interests, but to the national and, in some instances, broader scale interests. The Code was created for one of the oldest regions of Georgia which was of particular strategic, spiritual and economic significance for the country. In spite of certain independence, the region always acted in favour of national interests of the country. In this light, the Code of Laws analyzed in this article is one of the valuable written sources about mercantilism (even long before its foundation), the first doctrine of economic development of society, and certain elements of market economy doctrines.

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