How Inflation Ruined the Roman Economy

On a mildly interesting side note, one of the Roman coins I own, a denarius minted under Hadrian, is clipped, which, if you are unaware, is a common practice throughout history wherein someone would snip off a small piece of a coin to melt down the precious metal and (hopefully) be able to pass on the rest of the coin at full value. I suppose that makes it less valuable to most collectors but personally I find it far more valuable to me, having that little connection to what was almost certainly a boring, everyday action for whoever did it.

His book delves into how much money the Romans made - good stuff. I love me some financial history. Money is at the root of most large historical events.

Thought it'll be interesting to note that the US dollar at present is worth 25 times less than what it was a 100 years ago.

Last year's inflation rate is why I changed jobs. Changing jobs is easier than convincing your boss to give you an actual raise here in the USA.

This was a really fun video to make! Thanks for the opportunity for joining you in this presentation. The romans and the mistakes they've made with their coinage have much to teach us!

Here is another topic suggestion - at what point in time did Latin cease being the spoken language of commoners? I suspect that it continued to be the official language for a while after the general population started using early Romance languages or the languages of invading tribes. I would restrict my question to only the western empire as I suspect Latin continued to be used widely in the east.

Historian Norman F. Cantor in his "Medieval History" says that the Emperors were unaware that lowering the silver content of coinage would cause severe debasement of the currency. He remarks: "They [the Emperors] simply did not understand such things as inflation". That video clip insert is especially informative.

that was a super cool collaboration, seeing the real coins held in someones hand is more useful than you'd think.

Oh! The light bulb suddenly went on! I had always heard that debased Roman silver coins had a “wash” of silver over a mostly base metal core. I wondered how they did that without knowledge of electroplating. Aha! They didn’t add silver to the exterior of the coin! They removed copper from the exterior of the coin, leaving silver residue! Brilliant! Thank you for the edification!!!

A cool side note: In the mid 3rd century CE, the Romans had a special coin called the double sestertius which was obviously twice the value of a normal sestertius and was meant to weigh twice as much. I've got Postumus' double sestertius overstruck on top of an old Antoninus Pius sestertius. In the 100 years between the two emperors the coin had lost so much value, that a Pius sestertius weighed as much as a Postumus double sestertius.

An example of Gresham's Law in action: bad money drives out good money.

small note, but I always appreciate your ads. simple, clean, straight to the point. you always mention the ways whatever it is that you're advertising has helped you as well. i enjoy that!

"Prices continued to rise, and the economy limped on." History repeats itself.

Thanks for bringing on Classical Numismatics! He's a great creator and I only found you after I found him. So it's fun to see you collabing! Thanks to both of you for your channels!

Love the team up with ‘Classical Numismatics’! Two of my favourite accounts together.

I am amazed how there are such rich and informative YouTube channels like this one that are greatly not being noticed by the mass. You deserve more attention.

Fascinating and cautionary. I really enjoy the economics side of history. Thank you Dr Ryan!

I just want to say that this chanel got me hooked on the Roman Empire. Best Chanel on Youtube and best Narrator. Keep up the good work👍

Great job! This video really allows the viewer to take this information and compare it to our economic situation today.

I'm currently reading The Changing World Order by Ray Dalio. It's amazing how throughout history empires rise and fall for reasons that are quite similar. I love how the laws of economics are consistent throughout time.