Debt Deflationary Crisis in the Late Roman Republic

Abstract

Economic crises in the late Roman Republic and the associated problem of private debt are well known to scholars. But research has neglected a fundamentally important theory in modern economics that elucidates these issues: the theory of 'debt deflation'. This paper uses the debt deflation theory to examine the major credit and debt crises of the late Republic. We provide a summary of the modern theory of debt deflation and its relevance to the Roman economy in the 1st century BC, and then reanalyse the crises of 89-86 and 49-45 BC. It is concluded that these were 'debt deflationary' phenomena and that the modern theory sheds new light on this aspect of the late Republican economy.