This paper argues that there was enough buying and selling (emptio venditio) in the early Roman Empire to show that there were markets, and there were enough markets at the time that there was a market economy. I use three examples to make these points, one from my research, one from the...

The quality of life for ordinary Roman citizens at the height of the Roman Empire probably was better than that of any other large group of people living before the Industrial Revolution. The Roman Market Economy uses the tools of modern economics to show how trade, markets, and the Pax Romana...

This paper uses new data to extend the argument that there was an integrated wheat market in the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. I explore the meaning of randomness when data are scarce, and I investigate how we recreate the nature of ancient societies by asking new questions that...