The Dynamics of Ancient Empires by Morris Ian; Scheidel Walter; & Walter Scheidel

Author:Morris, Ian; Scheidel, Walter; & Walter Scheidel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press USA - OSO
Published: 2009-07-16T16:00:00+00:00

7. ECONOMIC GROWTH

Over the past few years, there have been several attempts to locate economic growth in antiquity.62 Of course, some scholars have denied that it occurred. Certainly, there was never in antiquity the steep curve of economic growth that marks the modern world.63 Perhaps the very search is an attempt to find the roots of modern experience in classical antiquity, which forged so many aspects of Western culture.

All that said, I still think the Roman Empire provided conditions for modest economic growth (a growth that was minuscule by modern standards but significant for the experience of some Romans):

• by extending the area of cultivated land, especially in northwestern Europe and the Balkans

• by increasing the size of agricultural units to achieve economies of scale

• by using systematic accounting methods to control costs or measure relative rates of return from different crops

• by allowing and encouraging the growth or persistence of towns, with their relatively sophisticated division of labor

• by achieving significant increases in productivity, but only in very limited spheres, which had only a superficial impact on the total economy

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