1. Economic Systems
Just the facts

2. Economic Systems - Foundations
Continuity from Paleolithic times
Many peoples remain pastoralists and nomads
Barter system remains
Changes
Most labor is agricultural labor
Silk Roads begin as well as other long distance trade routes
Specialization of labor begins
First coins minted
Most slaves are prisoners of war or debtors
Coerced/corvee labor used by governments as tax labor to build irrigation projects, walls, etc

4. Economic Systems – 600-1450 Continuities Most laborers are farmers
Coerced/corvee labor as a tax continues
Individual craftsmen make most products
Silk Roads re-open under Mongols
Changes
Trans-Saharan slave trade blooms, Zanj slaves grow sugar in Arab Empire
Serfdom becomes common in feudal areas
Guilds established
Indian Ocean is the center of luxury trade routes

6. Economic Systems – 1450-1750 Continuities
Luxury goods often traded long distance
Slavery grows to greatest extent with addition of Americas to global trade system
Farming remains most common economic activity
Changes
Center of global trade moves from Indian Ocean to Atlantic Ocean (Triangle Trade)
Cash crops (because of slavery) become a main source of economic activity
Mercantilism develops while feudalism and serfdom decline

8. Economic Systems – 1750-1900 Continuities
Slavery continues in first half of period
Coerced/corvee labor continues but lessoning
Agriculture still the major economic activity
Change
Wage labor becomes prominent with industrialization
Child labor becomes common
Semi-skilled factory labor replaces skilled artisans
Factory system replaces putting-out system
Slavery ends at end of period
Serfdom ends in last stronghold of Russia
Capitalism, imperialism and economic imperialism replace mercantilism
Cash crop economies in developing regions

10. Economic Systems - 1900 to Present
Continuities
Billions are still agricultural laborers
Factory system and child labor (shifts to developing nations)
Women paid less than men for equal work
Changes
Imperialism ends
Capitalism triumphs over communist command economies
Less than 50% of population are agricultural laborers
Global economy emerges
Information age replaces industrial age