How Prosperous were the Romans? Evidence from Diocletian`s Price Edict (301 AD)
Robert C. Allen
Abstract
The paper compares the standard of living of labourers in the Roman Empire in 301 AD with the standard of living of labourers in Europe and Asia from the middle ages to the industrial revolution. Roman data are drawn from Diocletian`s Price Edict. The real wage of Roman workers was like that of their counterparts in the lagging parts of Europe and much of Asia in the middle of the eighteenth century. Roman workers earned just enough to buy a minimal subsistence consumption basket. Real wages were considerably higher in the advanced parts of Europe in the eighteenth century, as they had been in Europe generally following the Black Death in 1348-9.
Keywords: Standard of Living, Real Wage, Roman Empire, Long Run Economic Growth
Date: October 2007 | Reference number(s): 363
Series: Department of Economics Discussion Paper Series
JEL Classifications: J31, N30, O47