Slaves and the Roman Economy

Abstract This chapter presents an economic view of Roman slavery and the modern literature about it. The chapter starts by defining slavery and distinguishing positive and negative incentives to work. Roman slavery was ‘open’, while United States slavery was ‘closed’. The related roles of manumission, education, and skills are discussed and evaluated. The chapter considers Roman slavery as part of the Roman labour force, and combines imprecise estimates by various ancient historians into a rough idea of the magnitude of Roman slavery. Finally, Roman slavery continued into the imperial decline. There are three overall lessons. First, economic analysis adds to our understanding of ancient slavery. Second, Roman slavery was nothing like United States slavery. Third, slaves were less than one-quarter of the Roman labour force in the Principate and less than that both earlier and later.