Managing Information in the Roman Economy

Description

This volume studies information as an economic resource in the Roman World. Information asymmetry is a distinguishing phenomenon of any human relationship. From an economic perspective, private or hidden information, opposed to publicly observable information, generates advantages and inequalities; at the same time, it is a source of profit, legal and illegal, and of transaction costs. The contributions that make up the present book aim to deepen our understanding of the economy of Ancient Rome by identifying and analysing formal and informal systems of knowledge and institutions that contributed to control, manage, restrict and enhance information. The chapters scrutinize the impact of information asymmetries on specific economic sectors, such as the labour market and the market of real estate, as well as the world of professional associations and trading networks. It further discusses structures and institutions that facilitated and regulated economic information in the public and the private spheres, such as market places, auctions, financial mechanisms and instruments, state treasures and archives.  Managing Asymmetric Information in the Roman Economy invites the reader to evaluate economic activities within a larger collective mental, social, and political framework, and aims ultimately to test the applicability of tools and ideas from theoretical frameworks such as the Economics of Information to ancient and comparative historical research. Contents Contributors List of Figures Part I: Information, Economic Theory and the Roman World Chapter 1: Managing Information in the Roman Economy: Introduction Bibliography Chapter 2: Economics and Information: Asymmetries, Uncertainties and Risks 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Perfect Competition Model 2.3 Perfect and Imperfect Information in Models 2.4 Information Problems and Incomplete Contracts 2.5 Asymmetries, Uncertainties and Risks 2.6 Asymmetric Information 2.7 Reputation, Moral Hazard and the Principal-Agent Model 2.8 Auctions 2.9 Conclusion Bibliography Part II: Information Management Chapter 3: Managing Economic Public Information in Rome: The Aerarium as Central Archive of the Roman Republic Bibliography Chapter 4: Managing Uncertainty and Asymmetric Information in Roman Auctions 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Information Against Uncertainty: Setting the Rules of the Game 4.3 Challenging the Rules of the Game 4.3.1 Malus Emptor Alienus: Bidders’ Collusion and Rings 4.3.2 Falsus emptor et illicitator: Lying by Omission and Shill Bidding 4.4 Conclusions Bibliography Part III: The Real Estate and Land Property Market Chapter 5: Asymmetric Information, Ager Publicus and the Roman Land Market in the Second Century BC 5.1 Introduction 5.2 The Roman Land Market in the Second Century BC 5.3 The Management of Farms 5.4 Ager publicus and the Land Market 5.5 Conclusion Bibliography Chapter 6: Domum pestilentem vendo: Real Estate Market and Information Asymmetry in the Roman World 6.1 Information Asymmetry and Adverse Selection: Buyers and Sellers 6.2 Information Asymmetry and Signalling: Landlords and Tenants 6.3 Conclusions Bibliography Chapter 7: Marriage and Asymmetric Information on the Real Estate Market in Roman Egypt 7.1 Introduction 7.2 The Two Prefectural Edicts 7.3 Two Kinds of Asymmetric Information 7.4 “Egyptian Women”: The Socio-Legal Structure of Roman Egypt 7.5 Egyptian Local Customs 7.6 Conclusion: Law and Economy in the Roman Empire Bibliography Part IV: The Labour Market Chapter 8: Information Asymmetry and the Roman Labour Market 8.1 Skilled Workers: Signalling Devices and Professionalisation 8.2 Labour Market Intermediaries 8.3 Networks and Personal Recommendations 8.4 Dependent Labour Bibliography Chapter 9: Asymmetric Information and Adverse Selection in the Roman Slave Market: The Limits of Legal Remedy 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Adverse Selection 9.3 The Aediles’ Edict 9.4 ‘Any Disease or Defect’ 9.5 Specific Behavioural Qualities Covered by the Edict 9.6 Express Warranties 9.7 The actio empti 9.8 Proxies for Quality 9.9 ‘Pandora’s Box’: Explicit and Implicit Warranties for Slave ‘Character’ in the American South 9.10 Conclusion Bibliography Part V: Trade and Financial Markets Chapter 10: Information Landscapes and Economic Practice in the Roman World 10.1 Urban Networks 10.2 Urban Spaces 10.3 Urban Landscapes 10.4 Discussion Bibliography Chapter 11: Roman Professional collegia and Economic Control: A Monopoly of Information? 11.1 Associations as Space of Shared or Withheld Information 11.2 Which Information? Bibliography Chapter 12: A Case of Arbitrage in a Worldwide Trade: Roman Coins in India 12.1 Introduction 12.2 The State of the Debate 12.3 The Theoretical Framework 12.4 Exposition of the Case Study 12.5 Conclusions Bibliography Chapter 13: Information Governance in Roman Finance 13.1 Information Governance Systems 13.2 Roman Private Order Information Systems 13.2.1 Personal Networks 13.2.2 Communities and Guilds 13.3 Roman Public Order Information Systems 13.3.1 Roman Accounting 13.3.2 Public Registration Offices 13.3.3 Financial Instruments 13.3.4 Enforcement 13.4 Commercial Credit Intermediaries 13.4.1 Deposit Bankers 13.4.2 Other Intermediaries 13.5 Conclusion Bibliography Part VI: Conclusions Chapter 14: Concluding Remarks Index