Reconceptualizes economic theory as a tool for understanding the Roman monetary system and its social and cultural contexts.

Most people have some idea what Greeks and Romans coins looked like, but few know how complex Greek and Roman monetary systems eventually became. The contributors to this volume are numismatists, ancient historians, and economists intent on investigating how these systems worked and how they both did and did not resemble a modern monetary system. Why did people first start using coins? How did Greeks and Romans make payments, large or small? What does money mean in Greek tragedy? Was the Roman Empire an integrated economic system? This volume can serve as an introduction to such questions, but it also offers the specialist the results of original research.

In Money, Culture, and Well-Being in Rome's Economic Development, 0-275 CE, Daniel Hoyer offers a new approach to explain some of the remarkable achievements of Imperial Rome

What modern economics can tell us about ancient Rome 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. 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. He traces how the Pax Romana encouraged trade around the Mediterranean, and how Roman law promoted commerce and banking. 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. 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.

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. 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. He traces how the Pax Romana encouraged trade around the Mediterranean, and how Roman law promoted commerce and banking. 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. 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.

Thanks to its exceptional size and duration, the Roman Empire offers one of the best opportunities to study economic development in the context of an agrarian world empire. This volume, which is organised thematically, provides a sophisticated introduction to and assessment of all aspects of its economic life.

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject Economics - Monetary theory and policy, grade: 2,0, Vienna University of Economics and Business, course: Seminar Business English, 47 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: The transition from barter economic systems to early monetary economies in Europe took place at around 700 BC. Ancient Greece (1000 BC - 323 BC) and afterwards the Roman Republic (509 BC - 44/27 BC) successfully established simple coinage systems with currencies like the denarius that already managed to fulfil the three modern economic functions that distinguish money from all other assets. In line with an ancient "free-market"-regulatory system during the early years of the Roman Empire (44/27 BC - 476 AD) the denarius subsequently paved the way for a tremendous enlargement of foreign trade, thus marking off the beginning of modern "free" trade. On the other hand, the Romans were the first who suffered from the negative aspects and challenges of a market economy: since modern principles as social and income justice as well as price stability were fully disregarded, the Romans were facing financial inequality, hyperinflation, and cultural erosion of their "way of living". Their fiscal and monetary policy harshly failed to finance long-term public expenditure, in particular military expenditures and imperial bribes. This imperfect competitive system is one of the main reasons for the disastrous collapse of the (Western) Roman Empire. However, this erroneous trend cannot only be assessed for ancient market systems: inflation during the years 1914-1923 in the German Reich and Weimar Republic also showed negative economical implications of hyperinflation including intense individual suffering and social impairment. Accompanied by the Black Tuesday of 1929 the German inflation finally fuelled political extremist fractions and amplified distrust towards economic institutions and legitimate democratic authorities.