Trade and the end of antiquity

Johannes Boehm and Thomas Chaney

CEP Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Performance, LSE

Abstract: What caused the end of antiquity, the shift of economic activity away from the Mediterranean towards northern Europe? We assemble a large database of coin flows between the 4th and 10th century and use it to document the shifting patterns of exchange during this time period. We build a dynamic model of trade and money where coins gradually diffuse along trade routes. We estimate the parameters of this model and recover time-varying bi-lateral trade flows and real consumption from data on the spatial and temporal distribution of coins. Our estimates suggest that technical progress, increased minting, and to a lesser degree the fall in trade flows over the newly formed border between Islam and Christianity contributed to the relative growth of Muslim Spain and the Frankish lands of northern Europe and the decline of the Roman-Byzantine world. Our estimates are consistent with the increased urbanization of western and northern Europe relative to the eastern Mediterranean from the 8th to the 10th century.

Keywords: gravity models; international trade; market access; diffusion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-09-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-fdg, nep-gro, nep-his, nep-int, nep-ipr and nep-ure
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Related works:
Working Paper: Trade and the end of antiquity (2024)
Working Paper: Trade and the End of Antiquity (2024)
Working Paper: Trade and the End of Antiquity (2024)
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