Babylonia's mīšarum acts have suffered from much the same belittling as those of Urukagina levied by Samuel Kramer and, in a similar vein, Stephen Lieberman complains: "The need to repeat the enactment of identical provisions shows that the mīšarum provided relief, but did not eliminate the difficulties which made it necessary." True enough, but he follows up by leaping to the value judgment that "What seems to have been needed was reform which would have eliminated all need for such adjustments, but the economic and political situation may not have allowed any such overall solution.

No economy in history has found such a solution.