The economics of Greco-Roman slavery

Rafael R. Guthmann and Walter Scheidel

Explorations in Economic History, 2025, vol. 97, issue C

Abstract: This paper investigates the economic aspects of slavery in the ancient Greco-Roman world. Existing evidence reveals significant variation in the relative cost of slaves compared to unskilled wages: it appears that at different times and places, a typical slave could be purchased for prices equivalent to wages paid from 150 to 1000 days of unskilled labor. To explain this great disparity, we develop a principal–agent model that predicts the return on slaves relative to wages, which varies as a function of the prevalence of slavery in the labor force. This model implies that slavery may have increased aggregate labor productivity by reallocating workers from less productive to more productive regions within the Greco-Roman world.

Keywords: Slavery; Principal–agent; Wages (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D29 N13 N33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:exehis:v:97:y:2025:i:c:s0014498325000361

DOI: 10.1016/j.eeh.2025.101689

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