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People, Plagues, and Prices in the Roman World: The Evidence from Egypt

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  • Harper, Kyle

Abstract

The papyri of Roman Egypt provide some of the most important quantifiable data from a first-millennium economy. This paper builds a new dataset of wheat prices, land prices, rents, and wages over the entire period of Roman control in Egypt. Movements in both nominal and real prices over these centuries suggest periods of intensive and extensive economic growth as well as contraction. Across a timeframe that covers several severe mortality shocks, demographic changes appear to be an important, but by no means the only, force behind changes in factor prices.

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  • Harper, Kyle, 2016. "People, Plagues, and Prices in the Roman World: The Evidence from Egypt," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 76(3), pages 803-839, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:76:y:2016:i:03:p:803-839_00
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    Cited by:

    1. G.-Fivos Sargentis & Panos Defteraios & Nikos D. Lagaros & Nikοs Mamassis, 2022. "Values and Costs in History: A Case Study on Estimating the Cost of Hadrianic Aqueduct’s Construction," World, MDPI, vol. 3(2), pages 1-27, April.
    2. Bernard, Seth, 2024. "The premium for skilled labor in the Roman world," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    3. Beniamino Callegari & Christophe Feder, 2022. "A Literature Review of Pandemics and Development: the Long-Term Perspective," Economics of Disasters and Climate Change, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 183-212, March.
    4. Jongman, Willem M. & Jacobs, Jan P.A.M. & Klein Goldewijk, Geertje M., 2019. "Health and wealth in the Roman Empire," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 138-150.
    5. Erfurth, Philipp, 2024. "Estimating Income Inequality in Rural Roman Egypt," SocArXiv wrx9b, Center for Open Science.
    6. Kallmes Kevin, 2018. "Imperial Monetary Policy and Social Reaction in Third Century Rome," Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines, De Gruyter, vol. 24(1), pages 1-11, June.

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