Soldiers and booze: The rise and decline of a Roman market economy in north-western Europe

Eltjo Buringh, Jan Luiten van Zanden and Maarten Bosker

No 32, Working Papers from Utrecht University, Centre for Global Economic History

Abstract: This study quantifies the importance of the Roman military for the development of a market economy in north-western Europe. Distributions of low denomination coins show how the Roman arrival kick-started a local market economy. Additionally settlement densities of fluvial catchments are used as a proxy for economic development. Our newly constructed dataset of settlement sizes shows a high correlation with Roman military requirements. After the demise of the empire the local market economy faded away. This antique market economy had a different geographical distribution than its medieval successor, which was not mainly driven by military demand.

Keywords: market economy; historical development; Roman Empire; north-western Europe; inland waterway transport; coin finds (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 55 pages
Date: 2012-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ucg:wpaper:0032

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