Economics wasn't born until the 1700's when the market system was put into action.
You wouldn't believe it? What was with that trading centuries ago?
Before the time of Adam Smith, it was tradition and command that controlled trading or economy.
Tradition: it is a universally accepted norm to show kinship and reciprocity. Everybody shares the produce of the land equally; gain or profit was totally foreign. Generation after generations hand down varied and necessary tasks according to custom and usage. Son follows the father's occupation. As Adam Smith said, 'every man was bound by a principle of religion to follow the occupation of his father and was supposed to commit the most horrible sacrilege if he changed it for another." Just like in India when certain occupations were assigned by caste. If change takes place, chaos consumes the society.
Command: authoritative rule can whip people to get the task done. Great wonders such as the Great Wall of China and the pyramids of Egypt would not be built had the state not dictated it. These command societies do not care about politics but was concerned with survival and they do it by supreme authority. If the people just followed the line set by the authority then everything will be smooth, life will be good.
Society's first economic controllers were not religion or something else but tradition and command. The market system that makes it alright to profit is a later invention.
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