The Roman Market Economy (The Princeton Economic History of the Western World)

Sophisticated Application of Economic Theory Accessible to Non-Economists David Denslow Were the Romans, and the people in Egypt and Palestine and its other provinces, like us? Obviously, not exactly. We are separated by some 80 generations of history and innovation. Their economy, however, may have resembled ours more than you would think. After Pompey tamed the pirates of Crete and elsewhere in 67 BC, the Mediterranean became a Roman lake. For several centuries afterward, the Pax Romana boosted trade throughout the region, not just in luxury goods but in staples as well. Peter Temin, in his 2012 book The Roman Market Economy, estimates that at the beginning of the current era supplying Rome with wheat, . An incredibly interesting subject, but this is really an academic paper I should start by stating that I am not an academic. And this is clearly an academic book. I have always been interested in reading about the Roman Republic and Roman Empire. After reading numerous histories and novels of this period I always came away disappointed. Most books focus on the military battles and the political battles, but never address what really made Rome so prosperous. In order to keep the republic and empire so strong for numerous centuries, there also had to be an incredibly efficient economy in place. How did the Romans become proficient in building large cement structures and roads across the empi. "Tour de Force. Broader than title suggests" according to harrisjr@bu.edu. A brilliant exposition and use of tools of economic to reinforce plausible explanations of the Roman economy where there are only limited and scattered data. Even if you're not taken up with Roman History, it's a beautiful primer on the use of economic tools.

He vividly describes how various markets operated in Roman times, from commodities and slaves to the buying and selling of land. Applying modern methods for evaluating economic growth to data culled from historical sources, Temin argues that Roman Italy in the second century was as prosperous as the Dutch Republic in its golden age of the seventeenth century.The Roman Market Economy reveals how economics can help us understand how the Roman Empire could have ruled seventy million people and endured for centuries.. He traces how the Pax Romana encouraged trade around the Mediterranean, and how Roman law promoted commerce and banking. The Roman Market Economy uses the tools of modern economics to show how trade, markets, and the Pax Romana were critical to ancient Rome's prosperity.Peter Temin, one of the world's foremost economic historians, argues that markets dominated the Roman economy. Temin shows that a reasonably vibrant market for wheat extended throughout the empire, and suggests that the Antonine Plague may have been responsible for turning the stable prices of the early empire into the persistent inflation of the late. The quality of life for ordinary Roman citizens at the height of the Roman Empire probably was better than that of any other large group of people living before the Industrial Revolution

But Temin's methodological point would have been more persuasive had it shown that an economic methodology can lead to new, or challenge old, understandings of the ancient economy."--Sitta von Reden, Journal of Interdisciplinary History. "Temin is a professional economist, and his book glows with the fervour of the true believer."--Peter Thonemann, Times Literary Supplement"This important book should be a challenge to ancient economic historians of all persuasions to engage seriously with both economic theory and comparative history, as well as with its specific claims about the development and performance of the Roman Empire."--Neville Morley, Sehepunkte"In The Roman Market Economy Peter Temin accomplishes the quintessential task of the economic historian: to take shards of pottery, folios of brittle parchment, and patinated tools and fashion from them a credible, comprehensive and vivid picture of a society long gone."--Plame