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Mining Gold For The Currency During The Pax Romana

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  • John Hartwick

Abstract

We set out a simple four sector macro model of the economy of the Roman Empire during a period of considerable economic prosperity. Our focus is on gold coins as currency and the seignorage which the government used to fund its activities. We solve numerically for a balanced growth representation of the economy of the empire, a solution that captures the intricacies of money creation, currency expansion and seignorage. We subscribe to the view that the exhaustion of low-cost gold and silver deposits contributed significantly to the ending of the economic prosperity enjoyed by Roman Italy and its provinces during the so-called Pax Romana (31 BC to 165 CE) and we attempt to capture significant shifts in variables during the decline.

Suggested Citation

  • John Hartwick, 2013. "Mining Gold For The Currency During The Pax Romana," Working Paper 1313, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    • Handle: RePEc:qed:wpaper:1313
    as

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    File URL: https://www.econ.queensu.ca/sites/econ.queensu.ca/files/qed_wp_1313.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robert M. Solow, 1956. "A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 70(1), pages 65-94.
    2. Peter Temin, 2001. "A Market Economy in the Early Roman Empire," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _039, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    3. Peter Temin, 2006. "The Economy of the Early Roman Empire," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(1), pages 133-151, Winter.
    4. David Kessler & Peter Temin, 2007. "The organization of the grain trade in the early Roman Empire," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 60(2), pages 313-332, May.
    5. Peter Temin, 2012. "The Roman Market Economy," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 9896.
    6. Peter Temin, 2001. "A Market Economy in the Early Roman Empire," Economics Series Working Papers 2001-W39, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    7. Blinder, Alan S. & Solow, Robert M., 1973. "Does fiscal policy matter?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 319-337.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Seigniorage loss and the fall of the Roman Empire
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2013-09-27 19:27:00

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Roman money supply; gold coinage; money during Pax Romana;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E40 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - General
    • E10 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - General
    • N10 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - General, International, or Comparative

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