Abstract
The paper compares the standard of living of labourers in the Roman Empire in 301 AD with the
standard of living of labourers in Europe and Asia from the middle ages to the industrial
revolution. Roman data are drawn from Diocletian’s Price Edict. The real wage of Roman
workers was like that of their counterparts in the lagging parts of Europe and much of Asia in the
middle of the eighteenth century. Roman workers earned just enough to buy a minimal
subsistence consumption basket. Real wages were considerably higher in the advanced parts of
Europe in the eighteenth century, as they had been in Europe generally following the Black
Death in 1348-9.
Working Paper Number 363
Department of Economics
Oxford University(21 page PDF)
HT: Brad DeLong
