Background Readings:

Students who have not completed ECON 101 or ECON 111 should review the powerpoint overviews of chapters 1, 2, 3, 6, 15, and 16 from Parkin, Michael (2005) Microeconomics, 7^th Edition, (Addison-Wesley) that are linked to the course website.

The course will rely heavily on material from the following Parkin chapters:

Ch. 15 – “Externalities”

Ch. 16 – “Public Goods and Common Property Resources”

Frank, Robert, “The Economic Naturalist”, excerpt

Detailed Reading List by Date and Site:

January 3: On Campus

Theme 1: The Debate over Markets in Antiquity

LACTANTIUS - Passage on Diocletian's Price Edict of 301 from “Of the Manner in Which the Persecutors Died, Addressed to Donatus”

Mattingly, David J., “Oil for Export? A Comparison of Libyan, Spanish, and Tunisian Olive Oil Production in the Roman Empire,” Journal of Roman Archeology 1 (1988), 33-56.

Mattingly, David J., “The Olive Oil Boom, Oil Surpluses, Wealth and Power in Roman Tripolitania,” Libyan Studies 19 (1988), 21-41.

Mattingly, David J., ”First Fruit? The Olive in the Roman World,” Chapter 9 in Human Landscapes in Classical Antiquity, Routledge 1996, 213-253.

North, D., “Markets and Other Allocation Systems in History: The Challenge of Karl Polanyi,” Journal of European Economic History, 6 (Winter 1977), 703-16.

North, D., “Institutions,” Journal of Economic Perspectives (Winter 1991)

Polanyi, K., The Great Transformation, (1944)

Ch. 4, Societies and Economic Systems

Ch. 5, Evolution of the Market Pattern

Ch. 6, The Self-Regulating Market and the Fictitious  Commodities

Temin, P., “A Market Economy in the Early Roman Empire” Journal of Roman Studies

Text of Diocletian’s Price Edict and List of Controlled Prices Under Diocletian’s Price Edict

January 4: In Transit

Theme 2: Common Property Resources, Institutions, and Institutional Change

Berck, P., and Jeffery Perloff, “The Commons as a Natural Barrier to Entry: Why There are so Few Fish Farms,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 1985

Field, Barry C.,  “The Optimal Commons,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 1985

Janvry, McCarthy, and Sadoulet, “Endogenous Provision and Appropriation in the Commons,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 1998

Nugent J., and Sanchez, “Common Property Rights as an Endogenous Response to Risk,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 1998

Runge, C. Ford, “Common Property Externalities: Isolation, Assurance, and Resource Depletion in a Traditional Grazing Context,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 1981

Thompson and Wilson, “Common Property as an Institutional Response to Environmental Variability,” Contemporary Economic Policy 1994

January 5: Milan

There are no readings for Milan.  Begin reading some of Greif’s articles on Medieval trade in Genoa.

January 6-8 – Genoa, Vernazza, Cinque Terre

Byrne, Eugene H., “Genoese Trade with Syria in the Twelfth Century,” American Historical Review 1920

Greif, Avner, “Reputation and Coalitions in Medieval Trade: Evidence on the Maghribi Traders,” Journal of Economic History (December 1989)

Greif, Avner, “The Organization of Long Distance Trade: Reputation and Coalitions in the Geniza Documents and Genoa During the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries,” Journal of Economic History 1991

Greif, Avner, “On the Political Foundations of the Late Medieval Commercial Revolution: Genoa during the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries,” Journal of Economic History 1994

Hoover, Calvin, B., “The Sea Loan in Genoa in the Twelfth Century,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 1926

Lopez, Robert S., “Market Expansion: The Case of Genoa,” Journal of Economic History 1964

January 9 – Florence

Abulafia, David, “Southern Italy and the Florentine Economy, 1265-1370,” Economic History Review 34 (August 1981), 377-388. 

January 10-13: Tuscany

Botticini, Maristella, “A Loveless Economy? Intergenerational Altruism and the Marriage Market in a Tuscan Town, 1415-1436,” Journal of Economic History 1999

Botticini, Maristella, “A Tale of “Benevolent Governments: Private Credit Markets, Public Finance, and the Role of Jewish Lenders in Medieval and Renaissance Italy,” Journal of Economic History 2000

January 14-17: Naples, Pompeii, Amalfi, and Paestum

Citarella, Armand O., “The Relations of Amalfi with the Arab World Before the Crusades,” Speculum (1967)

Citarella, Armand O., “Patterns in Medieval Trade: The Commerce of Amalfi before the Crusades,” Journal of Economic History 28 (Dec. 1968), 531-555.

January 18-20: Rome and Ostia

Barlow, Charles T., “The Roman Government and the Roman Economy, 92-80 B.C.,” American Journal of Philology 101 (Summer 1980), 202-219.

DeLaine, Janet, “Bricks and mortar: exploring the economics of building techniques at Rome and Ostia,” Ch. 11 in Mattingly, David J., and John Salmon, eds., Economies Beyond Agriculture in the Classical World

Frier, Bruce, “The Rental Market in Early Imperial Rome,” Journal of Roman Studies

Houston, George W., “Ports in Perspective: Some Comparative Materials on Roman Merchant Ships and Ports,” American Journal of Archaeology (October, 1988)

Purcell, Nicholas, “Rome and the Management of Water: Environment, Culture, and Power,” Chapter 8 in in Human Landscapes in Classical Antiquity, Routledge 1996, 180-212.

Thornton, M. K. and R. L. Thornton, “Manpower Needs for the Public Works Programs of the Julio-Claudian Emperors,” Journal of Economic History (June 1983)

January 21-22: Environment and Ecology of the Roman World

Fox, Robin Lane, “Ancient hunting: from Homer to Polybius," in Human Landscapes in Classical Antiquity, Routledge 1996, pp. 119-153.

Hughes, Donald. "Introduction: Ecology in the Greek and Roman Worlds," Chapter 1 in Pan’s Travail. Environmental Problems of the Ancient Greeks and Romans. Johns Hopkins University 1994.

Hughes, Donald. "The Environment: Life, land, and Sea in the Mediterranean Region," Chapter 2 in Pan’s Travail. Environmental Problems of the Ancient Greeks and Romans. Johns Hopkins University 1994.

Hughes, Donald. "Ecological Crises in Earlier Societies," Chapter 3 in Pan’s Travail. Environmental Problems of the Ancient Greeks and Romans. Johns Hopkins University 1994.

Hughes, Donald. "Concepts of the Natural World," Chapter 4 in Pan’s Travail. Environmental Problems of the Ancient Greeks and Romans. Johns Hopkins University 1994.

Hughes, Donald. "Deforestation, Overgrazing and Erosion," Chapter 5 in Pan’s Travail. Environmental Problems of the Ancient Greeks and Romans. Johns Hopkins University 1994.

Hughes, Donald. "Wildlife Depletion: Hunting Fishing and the Arena," Chapter 6 in Pan’s Travail. Environmental Problems of the Ancient Greeks and Romans. Johns Hopkins University 1994.

Hughes, Donald. "Industrial Technology and Environmental Damage," Chapter 7 in Pan’s Travail. Environmental Problems of the Ancient Greeks and Romans. Johns Hopkins University 1994.

Hughes, Donald. "Agricultural Decline," Ch. 8 in Pan’s Travail. Environmental Problems of the Ancient Greeks and Romans. Johns Hopkins University 1994.

Hughes, Donald. "Urban Problems," Chapter 9 in Pan’s Travail. Environmental Problems of the Ancient Greeks and Romans. Johns Hopkins University 1994.

Scobie, "Slums, Sanitation, and Mortality in the Roman World," KLIO 68 (1986) 399-422.

Hughes, Donald. "Environmental Problems as Factors in the Decline of the Greek and Roman Civilizations" Chapter 11 in Pan’s Travail. Environmental Problems of the Ancient Greeks and Romans. Johns Hopkins University 1994.

Hughes, J. Donald, “Social Structure and Environmental Impact in the Roman Empire,” Capitalism, Nature, Socialism 15 (September 2004), 29-35.

Huntington, Ellsworth, “Climatic Change and Agricultural Exhaustion as Elements in the Fall of Rome,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 31 (Feb. 1917), 173-208

Smith, Catherine Delano, "Where was the ‘wilderness’ in Roman times?" Chapter 7 in Human Landscapes in Classical Antiquity, Routledge 1996, 154-179.