The Rather Pathetic Economy of the Roman Empire

Apparently us guys think about the Roman Empire 5 times a day, but from an economic Perspective it's hard to see why. While they did build a lot of architectural monuments, their economy was actually rather pathetic by almost all metrics. Why was Rome, which had a large empire and notoriety throughout Europe for millennia after its demise, actually a very weak economy?

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[arkadefire]

It would have been nice to compare Rome to other countries/empires of similar technology levels to show whether they were relatively poorer or richer than their peers.

[kasparkannel]

1200$ per capita is a lot more than i would have expected from a 2000 year old empire, in fact, i would say it's quite impressive

[cristiancombei]

The Roman Empire is comparable to some countries today? That's astonishing, not pathetic.

[octaviom]

I find the video's idea of measuring the Roman economy really cool, but to actually compare it against modern economies is a faulty idea. Why not compare it against its peers like the Persian Empire or the Han Dynasty? That would be way more interesting instead of just roasting the Roman Empire because they are not industrialized haha

[Usuality]

By modern standards, an empire of antiquity can only be at the bottom. If there was something below it, THAT would be the story.

[vladutzuli]

Well yes, by modern standards of course an ancient, preindustrial civilisation will be extremely poor. A more useful comparison would be to try and assess Ancient Rome against its peers such as Ancient Egypt or China, or even medieval states.

[mikesiciliano]

This applies to literally every ancient civilization.

[PakBallandSami]

Fact: When Roman citizens above a certain net worth left property to anyone other than their immediate family, they were subject to a 5% inheritance tax. The veterans' pension fund was funded by estate tax revenues as well as a one percent sales tax on auctions.

[jimsimonetti]

wow, I can't believe the empire before industrialization wasn't as wealthy as one after. Really insightful stuff here.

[jruss]

This honestly feels more like an April Fool’s video than something I’d expect to see in January…

[lucimicle]

A separate leaderboard for pre-industrial states would be interesting.

[PanCynik]

So to sum it up. 2000 years ago world wasn't as rich and industrial as today.

Only really brave and innovative statements on this channel.

[AntonioSilva-upwl]

No way! An agricultural society from two thousand years ago was poorer than todays economies, who would have guessed??

[Quentin-vizi]

I’m so confused by this video. Like ofcourse Rome was poor in modern standards? Was there anyone who actually thought it wasn’t? I mean sure there are, but not EconomicsExplained viewers, for a channel that often explains complicated topics I assume the viewers know this stuff. Rome was very advanced for its time, but who in the world would think they’d been richer compared to a modern day nation with the internet, robots, airplanes massive electricity production etc. . I love this channel but ngl, this video was weird ahah:)

[frankjennings]

The logic for giveng them a 0 on growth was kinda dumb “From its peak, it only ever lost nominal output”. Yes, that is what “peak” means. It’s output had grown before then when one of its main industries was raiding and subsequent taxation of colonies, which themselves grew more productive per capita after annexation into the empire.

[kyle]

Rome is so interesting because of how it held vastly different cultures and religions together. Also they had major drip.

[Unknown-jtjo]

It's silly to single out the "pathetic" economy of the Roman Empire. By modern standards, every country before 1500 AD (or even 1800 AD) was desperately poor.

[bcvetkov]

50-60 Billion GDP in the 2nd Century AD is absolutely impressive for its time.
Unfortunately Rome didn't understand along with every ancient empire how inflation worked. So, currency de-valuation happened often.
However,
You can't compare the past with the present for a variety of reasons. Including the fact that Rome didn't have electricity, cargo freight ships, airplanes, modern medicine (although what they had for medicine was absolutely insane) and the Internet.

[justsomeguy]

The Roman Emperor comparison made very little sense to me. The Roman elite did not lack television and internet because they couldn't afford it, but because it wasn't invented yet. While it is very likely that the average person today has more purchasing power than the average roman; an emperor with castles, staff and even armies was obviously richer than today's average person. The argument being made sounds more philosphical than economic in nature.

[vedants.vispute]

Comparing old empires and economies with the modern world is similar of comparing old video games to today's PS5.. Both aren't comparable but are gold edition in their times.. 9/10 in 1990 will still be 9/10 in 2024..