Quantifying the Roman Economy

Methods and Problems

Edited by Alan Bowman and Andrew Wilson
Oxford Studies on the Roman Economy, Oxford University Press, 2009.

This collection of essays is the first volume in a new series, Oxford Studies on the Roman Economy. Edited by the series editors, it focuses on the economic performance of the Roman empire, analysing the extent to which Roman political domination of the Mediterranean and north-west Europe created the conditions for the integration of agriculture, production, trade, and commerce across the regions of the empire. Using the evidence of both documents and archaeology, the contributors suggest how we can derive a quantified account of economic growth and contraction in the period of the empire's greatest extent and prosperity.

The volume can be purchased through the Oxford University Press website in hardback, paperback, or as an ebook.

Introduction: Approaches

1. Quantifying the Roman Economy: Integration, Growth, Decline?

Alan Bowman and Andrew Wilson

Part I: Urbanisation

2. Urbanisation as a proxy of demographic and economic growth. Elio Lo Cascio 3. Response to Elio Lo Cascio

Roger Bagnall

Part II: Field survey and demography

4. Archaeology, Demography and Roman economic growth

Wim Jongman

5. Peopling the countryside: Roman demography in the Albegna Valley and Jerba.

Elizabeth Fentress

6. Peopling ancient landscapes: Potential and problems.

David Mattingly

Part III: Agriculture

7. Quantifying Egyptian agriculture.

Alan Bowman

8. Response to Alan Bowman

Roger Bagnall

Part IV: Trade

9. Approaches to quantifying Roman trade

Andrew Wilson

10. Approaches to quantifying Roman trade: Response

Michael Fulford

11. A comment on Andrew Wilson: ‘Approaches to quantifying Roman trade'

William Harris

Part V: Coinage

12. Coinage and metal supply

Bruce Hitchner

13. Roman silver coinage: mints, metallurgy, and production.

Matthew Ponting

14. Some numismatic approaches to quantifying the Roman economy

Chris Howgego

Part VI: Prices, earnings and standards of living

15. Earnings and costs: living standards and the Roman economy.

Dominic Rathbone

16. How prosperous were the Romans?

Bob Allen

17. New ways of studying incomes in the Roman economy

Walter Scheidel

Other Titles in the Series

Harvesting the Sea

Annalisa Marzano

Erdkamp et al - Ownership and Exploitation

Ownership and Exploitation of Land and Natural Resources in the Roman World

Paul Erdkamp, Koenraad Verboven, and Arjan Zuiderhoek