The Financial Markets of Roman Egypt

Risk and Return

Paul V. Kelly (Autor)

Buch | Hardcover

232 Seiten

2023
Liverpool University Press (Verlag)
978-1-80207-833-6 (ISBN)

Artikel merken

The Financial Markets of Roman Egypt analyses some 4,367 financial transactions, leases, sales and loans, recorded on papyri in Roman Egypt in the period AD 1 to 350. The analysis of this remarkable body of information, the ancient equivalent of modern-day ‘Big Data’, helps us understand how ordinary people thought about some of the most important decisions they would make in their life: buying a house, lending their savings or renting land. Using innovative theories and techniques inspired by classics, mathematics and the financial markets, it brings out the differences and similarities of behaviours with modern and historical comparators.

The book looks at risk and return for both asset holders - the landlords and lenders - and those
dependent on the use of those assets - the tenants and borrowers. In particular it quantifies the risks facing families, including climate variability. Issues such as wealth concentration, social mobility and the role of the aged and women in the financial markets are addressed.

The analysis presented expands our knowledge of the nature of the financial markets, and from that examination a sharper insight into the nature of the economy of the Roman world is gained,
making it clear that there was no single “market” economy, but different sectors, some of which were driven by reciprocity/redistribution and others by financially rational judgements.

Paul V. Kelly is an independent scholar. Following a career in financial services during which he advised multinational companies and governments on pension fund topics and represented the European actuarial profession on the EU statutory body, he went on to do a PhD on the financial markets of Roman Egypt at King's College London. This is his first book.

1.
Introduction

1.1
Theories of the Market

1.2
Who were the People concerned?

2.
The Drachma in your Pocket

3.
Housing – Markets within Markets

4.
Buy land, 'cause God ain't making any more of
it

4.1
Agricultural Land Sales

4.2
Land Leases

5.
Usury or Solidarity?

6.
Women and the Financial Markets

7.
Warning: Investments can go down as well as up

8.
Conclusions

Appendix – Assumptions

Glossary

Erscheinungsdatum	12.01.2023
Reihe/Serie	Liverpool Studies in Ancient History
Zusatzinfo	Graphs; Charts; Diagrams; Tables, black and white
Verlagsort	Liverpool
Sprache	englisch
Maße	163 x 239 mm
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Vor- und Frühgeschichte
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Wirtschaftsgeschichte
ISBN-10	1-80207-833-9 / 1802078339
ISBN-13	978-1-80207-833-6 / 9781802078336
Zustand	Neuware