Ancient Rome

Robert C. Ellickson
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Abstract

In 200 BC, the population of the city of Rome was 200,000. By AD 50, this figure had increased fivefold, an unprecedented burst of urban expansion. Moses Finley’s much-contested thesis that Rome was parasitic implies that the city’s growth could only have brought discomfort to the peoples of the Mediterranean. Drawing on the theory of cities developed by urban economists, I contest Finley’s thesis. Rome’s growth fostered specialization of labor and the sharing of information, enabling the city to export the Pax Romana, government, law, literature, and other beneficial services. The institutional foundations that undergirded the growth of Rome included norms and laws favoring brisk commerce in land. A provision of the Twelve Tables of c.450 BC, for example, authorized complete freedom of testation, an extraordinary principle in a near-archaic society. Also conducive was Rome’s adroit mix of a private sector that provided goods such as the apartment blocks that housed most of the population, and a public sector that provided essential public goods such as aqueducts. These institutional choices, along with Rome’s aversion to growth-limiting populist policies, were necessary, but not sufficient, conditions for its emergence as the largest city the world had seen.
古罗马
公元前200年,罗马城的人口是20万。到公元50年,这个数字增加了五倍,这是前所未有的城市扩张。摩西·芬利(Moses Finley)关于罗马是寄生虫的论点备受争议,这意味着这座城市的发展只会给地中海地区的人民带来不适。根据城市经济学家提出的城市理论,我对芬利的论点提出了质疑。罗马的发展促进了劳动力的专业化和信息的共享,使城市能够输出罗马和平、政府、法律、文学和其他有益的服务。巩固罗马发展的制度基础包括有利于土地贸易活跃的规范和法律。c.450年《十二表》的一项规定例如,公元前赋予了完全的作证自由,这在一个近乎古老的社会中是一项非同寻常的原则。另一个有利因素是,罗马巧妙地结合了私营部门和公共部门,前者提供商品(如容纳了大多数人口的公寓楼),后者提供基本的公共商品(如输水管道)。这些制度选择,加上罗马对限制增长的民粹主义政策的厌恶,是罗马成为世界上最大城市的必要条件,但不是充分条件。
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