[bandrami]

> Capitalism is a heluva lot older than 1549.

Huh? No, it's not. The first step may be learning what "capitalism" means. It's a specific economic system that developed in early modernity. It's not some "natural state of man" any more than feudalism was before it.

[WalterBright]

I provided a cite. Maybe have a look at it.

[defrost]

The opinions of Rodney Stark are neither unkown, uncontested, nor definitive.

At best they are niche and contraversial (admittedly it's the phrase "revolutionary and controversial" that most commonly appears on his book reviews).

I spoke of modern capitalism which is a well understood term, as acknowledged by bandrami.

If you wish to speculate on undocumented pre history then it's reasonable to assume that work from home predates first documentation and goes back as far in time as large works with small parts existed.

[bandrami]

I've read Stark, and he goes way out in front of the actual documents we have. The high middle ages contained elements of a market economy that eventually developed into mercantilism and thence capitalism, which is very different from your claim that capitalism is a lot older than 1549. (You also seem to be conflating mercantilism and capitalism, incidentally, but either way the result is the same.)