The Labor Market of the Early Roman Empire

Temin, Peter

doi:10.1162/002219504773512525

Cited by 83 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Economists look first for prices, but they are very hard to find in ancient sources. When we observe continuous price series, for Babylonia in the three centuries before the start of the Roman Empire, we find they moved in a random walk like modern prices (Temin, 2002). Wheat prices for Rome are much rarer and corrupted by the presence of free distribution through the annona, but occasional price quotations have survived.…”

Section: A Mediterranean Market For Goodsmentioning

confidence: 87%

The Economy of the Early Roman Empire

Temin

2006

Journal of Economic Perspectives

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122

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Many inhabitants of ancient Rome lived well. Tourists marvel at the temples, baths, roads and aqueducts that they built. Economists also want to understand the existence of a flourishing and apparently prosperous economy two millennia ago. Market institutions and a stable government appear to have been the combination that produced this remarkable result. This essay provides an economist's view of the Roman economy that emphasizes the role of markets. I focus on the early Roman Empire, from 27 BCE to around 200 CE. I begin with some indications suggesting that the standard of living in ancient Rome was similar to that of early modern period of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe, an extraordinary achievement for any economy in the ancient world. I then argue that ancient Rome managed to achieve this high standard of living through the combined operation of moderately stable political conditions and markets for goods, labor and capital, which allowed specialization and efficiency. After surveying the labor and financial markets in turn, I return to the broad questions of how the Romans prospered and the economy appears to have grown.

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Section: A Mediterranean Market For Goodsmentioning

confidence: 87%

The Economy of the Early Roman Empire

Temin

2006

Journal of Economic Perspectives

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122

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“…Influence of exonerations and guarantees: Arzt-Grabner 2010: 30-1. Market integration: Temin 2001Temin , 2004Scheidel 2005b. ⁶ Similar clauses appear in lines 41 and 51 of the 'Dasumius' testament (AE 2005, 191).…”

Section: Two Cases: Cronion and Calenusmentioning

confidence: 92%

The Practice of Manumission through Negotiated Conditions in Imperial Rome

Koops¹,

Dari‐Mattiacci²,

Kehoe³

2020

Roman Law and Economics

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Roman slaves often had to meet expressly negotiated conditions to obtain their freedom. The use of such conditions helps to explain why the Romans freed so many slaves. They are an expression of the economic considerations that underlie the extraction and manumission model of Roman slavery. Agreements between masters and slaves occurred in practice and were recognized at law. Conditions could be set among the living or by testament and could consist of settling accounts, money payments, or services in kind; some followed the slave and were actionable. The money to pay for freedom often came from the slave’s patrimony or peculium. Though evidence is scarce, conditions and the corresponding manumission prices seem to have been of a type that could be met within years rather than decades. Extracting a price from slaves for their freedom lessened the future claims of patrons. For a certain type of slave, negotiated manumission conditions may have been the norm.

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“…Temin sees a flourishing labour market as the core of an empire wide market economy, in which slaves participated as well as freedmen. 32 Scheidel focuses on slavery as a form of coerced labour, but stresses the opportunity cost in determining whether slaves or free wage workers would be used and emphasizes the efffect of supply and demand on the slave market. 33 Saller re-emphasized the role of household production.…”

Section: Minimalism/primitivism/substantivism Vs Maximalism/ Modernimentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes to work and workers in classical Greece and Rome

Verboven¹

2014

Tijdschrift Voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis/ the Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History

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Koenraad Verboven Ancient historians like to refer to medieval and early modern phenomena, but they rarely pursue their comparisons. Finley's contrast between ancient consumer cities and medieval producer cities (to quote only one famous example), was little more than a copy-paste from Max Weber's. 1 Medievalists and modernists, however, are no better. Surveys of European economic history rarely start before the Carolingian era. Ancient Greeks and Romans enter the scene mostly only to provide a contrast: how Roman occupational collegia were burial clubs rather than guilds; how slaves provided the bulk of the labour force instead of wage-workers. It seems that stereotypes frame the debate wherever classicists and medievalists/modernists meet. Lis and Soly's 'Worthy Effforts' shows how unfortunate this is and how much both sides can learn from each other. As an ancient historian I welcome their achievement and the opportunity to discuss it. 'Worthy Effforts' comes at an opportune moment. Ancient economic history has profoundly changed since the early nineties. New tools, techniques and models in archaeology provide a continuous stream of data. New approaches have enriched our conceptual toolboxes and offfered new explanatory frameworks. 2 The role of culture and ideology, however, (although always looming in the background) has until now received only limited attention. 3 In this respect 'Worthy Effforts' provides a valuable contribution to the debate among ancient economic historians. The authors challenge the popular black and white notion that work was considered degrading in Greco-Roman culture, but was a recognized value in Christianity. Surprisingly for classicists, Lis and Soly argue that classical attitudes to work(ers) were generally more positive than medieval Christian ones. Greeks and Romans held a multiplicity of views on the value(s) of work. The negative statements found in Plato, Aristotle or Cicero gained

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The Labor Market of the Early Roman Empire

Cited by 83 publications

References 12 publications

The Economy of the Early Roman Empire

The Economy of the Early Roman Empire

The Practice of Manumission through Negotiated Conditions in Imperial Rome

Attitudes to work and workers in classical Greece and Rome

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