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What things cost in ancient Rome

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Re: What things cost in ancient Rome

#11

Post by pg »

swombat wrote: post #10
bprater wrote: post #7

How much is a denarius worth in today's US dollars?

This question is meaningless. Why? 1) The value of the denarius was clearly subject to inflation, and so varied greatly. You could say "how much was the denarius worth of October 1st, 10 AD?", but that value would have changed by the next day. In fact, around the time this edict was proclaimed, clearly the value of the denarius was inflating rapidly. 2) The only way you could come up with a relative value for even on…

That is a complicated issue. If it's not meaningless to ask what a dollar 50 years ago was worth in present terms, then it isn't meaningless to ask about further back. E.g. the answer would appear not to be a trillion, or a trillionth.

However, while this seems to be the view of most economists, I think it's meaningless to ask even what the value of a dollar 50 years ago was, because we are so much richer now. A dollar now can buy you computing power that would have been unthinkable then, cures for diseases that were then incurable, and so on. Economists deliberately ignore immensely valuable new innovations till their prices stabilize (= decline dramatically), since otherwise the CPI would jump around wildly. But this means the CPI greatly understates the growth in wealth.

Re: What things cost in ancient Rome

#12

Post by rokhayakebe »

swombat wrote: post #10
bprater wrote: post #7

How much is a denarius worth in today's US dollars?

This question is meaningless. Why? 1) The value of the denarius was clearly subject to inflation, and so varied greatly. You could say "how much was the denarius worth of October 1st, 10 AD?", but that value would have changed by the next day. In fact, around the time this edict was proclaimed, clearly the value of the denarius was inflating rapidly. 2) The only way you could come up with a relative value for even on…

Please Explain.

Re: What things cost in ancient Rome

#13

Post by nihilocrat »

gruseom wrote: post #8

Interesting that lawyers were the most expensive. (Actually, it's a little hard to compare, because some of the rates are monthly, some daily, and some are per pupil.)

Even though I don't really know what Roman courts were like, I bet a lot more things were punishable by death, so I figure a good lawyer might be the difference between being let free (or at least getting out alive) or being executed.

Re: What things cost in ancient Rome

#15

Post by thorax »

swombat wrote: post #10
bprater wrote: post #7

How much is a denarius worth in today's US dollars?

This question is meaningless. Why? 1) The value of the denarius was clearly subject to inflation, and so varied greatly. You could say "how much was the denarius worth of October 1st, 10 AD?", but that value would have changed by the next day. In fact, around the time this edict was proclaimed, clearly the value of the denarius was inflating rapidly. 2) The only way you could come up with a relative value for even on…

Well, not what he meant in context, I bet, but the question certainly isn't meaningless when the context is collectibles:

http://ri.ms/ebay_denarius

Re: What things cost in ancient Rome

#16

Post by [deleted] »

pg wrote: post #11
swombat wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This question is meaningless. Why? 1) The value of the denarius was clearly subject to inflation, and so varied greatly. You could say "how much was the denarius worth of October 1st, 10 AD?", but that value would have changed by the next day. In fact, around the time this edict was proclaimed, clearly the value of the denarius was inflating rapidly. 2) The only way you could come up with a relative value for even on…

That is a complicated issue. If it's not meaningless to ask what a dollar 50 years ago was worth in present terms, then it isn't meaningless to ask about further back. E.g. the answer would appear not to be a trillion, or a trillionth. However, while this seems to be the view of most economists, I think it's meaningless to ask even what the value of a dollar 50 years ago was, because we are so much richer now. A doll…

[deleted]

Re: What things cost in ancient Rome

#17

Post by iamelgringo »

bprater wrote: post #7

How much is a denarius worth in today's US dollars?

Using the prices listed and assuming a 10 hour work day, one denarius was worth:

   1/4 of a decent beer, or 1/2 of a Egyptian beer
   1/2 an ounce of Pork Mincemeat
   1/12th of an Italian pound of Venison
   1/2 a bath
With a 10 hour day, laborers made:

    2.5 denarii an hour for farm labor
    5 denarii an hour for carpentry
    2.5 denarii an hour for data entry (scribing)
    1.5 denarii an hour for entry level teaching
        (assuming 10 pupils and 10 hour workday

Re: What things cost in ancient Rome

#18

Post by fauigerzigerk »

swombat wrote: post #10
bprater wrote: post #7

How much is a denarius worth in today's US dollars?

This question is meaningless. Why? 1) The value of the denarius was clearly subject to inflation, and so varied greatly. You could say "how much was the denarius worth of October 1st, 10 AD?", but that value would have changed by the next day. In fact, around the time this edict was proclaimed, clearly the value of the denarius was inflating rapidly. 2) The only way you could come up with a relative value for even on…

What remains comparable is how much humans need to eat in a day. So it could be meaningful to work out how many people a day's wage could feed back then and use that as a baseline to calculate the imaginary USD/DRI exchange rate.

Re: What things cost in ancient Rome

#19

Post by KevBurnsJr »

gruseom wrote: post #8

Interesting that lawyers were the most expensive. (Actually, it's a little hard to compare, because some of the rates are monthly, some daily, and some are per pupil.)

I wouldn't think that would be particularly interesting. Lawyers make a lot in our culture too.

What I find more interesting is the extremely high relative wage for Teachers.

Re: What things cost in ancient Rome

#20

Post by elai »

gruseom wrote: post #8

Interesting that lawyers were the most expensive. (Actually, it's a little hard to compare, because some of the rates are monthly, some daily, and some are per pupil.)

But do think a lawyer would get that fee every day? Or only once or a few times per month?
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