The first in a series of studies on the economy of ancient Mesopotamia, forming the Proceedings of the First Mos Symposium held in Leiden in 1997. Contents: Monies, motives and methods in Babylonian economics (M A Powell) ; Capital formation and investment in an institutional context (G van Driel) ; Reflections on the relationship between state-initiated and foreign trade and private economic activity (H Neumann) ; Silver and credit in Old Assyrian trade (K R Veenhof) ; On the financing of Old Assyrian merchants (J G Dercksen) ; Traders in the Neo-Assyrian period (K Radner) ; Money in the Neo-Assyrian empire (K Radner) ; Money in the Neo-Babylonian institutions (A C V M Bongenaar) ; Structures et opérations commerciales en Babylonie à l'époque néo-babylonienne