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stoutfellowI suddenly have the desire to read about the economic history of the late Roman Empire, especially around the time of Diocletian.
(From various sources, I have gathered that one of the causes of the decline of the empire was its chronic balance-of-trade deficit with the civilizations to the East, especially China, which caused a steady flow of coinable metal out of the empire; eventually there wasn't enough specie available to maintain a monetary economy, and society collapsed into a barter economy, until the discovery of new silver mines in, I think, Bohemia. That would tend to cause monetary deflation, I would think. But Diocletian imposed wage and price controls, which are generally used as a weapon against inflation. So what was really going on?)
Does anybody know where I might look?
(From various sources, I have gathered that one of the causes of the decline of the empire was its chronic balance-of-trade deficit with the civilizations to the East, especially China, which caused a steady flow of coinable metal out of the empire; eventually there wasn't enough specie available to maintain a monetary economy, and society collapsed into a barter economy, until the discovery of new silver mines in, I think, Bohemia. That would tend to cause monetary deflation, I would think. But Diocletian imposed wage and price controls, which are generally used as a weapon against inflation. So what was really going on?)
Does anybody know where I might look?
