IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ajk/ajkdps/051.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Roman Transport Network Connectivity and Economic Integration

Author

Listed:
  • Matthias Flückiger

    (University of York, York, YO105DD, United Kingdom)

  • Erik Hornung

    (CAGE, CEPR, CESifo, ECONtribute, and University of Cologne, Albertus-Magnus-Platz, 50923 Cologne, Germany)

  • Mario Larch

    (CEPII, CESifo, ifo, GEP, and University of Bayreuth, Universitätsstr.30, 95447 Bayreuth, Germany)

  • Markus Ludwig

    (CESifo and Technical University of Braunschweig, Spielmannstraße9, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany)

  • Allard Mees

    (Romano-Germanic Central Museum-Leibniz Archaeological Research Institute, Ernst-Ludwig-Platz 2, 55116 Mainz, Germany)

Abstract

We show that the creation of the first integrated multi-modal pan-European transport network during Roman times influences economic integration over two millennia. Drawing on spatially highly disaggregated data on excavated Roman ceramics, we document that contemporary interregional trade was influenced by connectivity within the network. Today, these connectivity differentials continue to influence integration as approximated by cross-regional firm investment behaviour. Continuity is partly explained by selective infrastructure routing and cultural integration due to bilateral convergence in preferences and values. We show that our results are Roman-connectivity specific and do not reflect pre-existing patterns of exchange using pre-Roman trade data.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthias Flückiger & Erik Hornung & Mario Larch & Markus Ludwig & Allard Mees, 2021. "Roman Transport Network Connectivity and Economic Integration," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 051, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:ajk:ajkdps:051
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econtribute.de/RePEc/ajk/ajkdps/ECONtribute_051_2021.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2021
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fabian Wahl, 2017. "Does European development have Roman roots? Evidence from the German Limes," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 313-349, September.
    2. Börner, Lars & Severgnini, Battista, 2011. "Epidemic trade," Discussion Papers 2011/12, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    3. Jaffe, Adam B, 1986. "Technological Opportunity and Spillovers of R&D: Evidence from Firms' Patents, Profits, and Market Value," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(5), pages 984-1001, December.
    4. Acemoglu,Daron & Arellano,Manuel & Dekel,Eddie (ed.), 2013. "Advances in Economics and Econometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107016064.
    5. Acemoglu,Daron & Arellano,Manuel & Dekel,Eddie (ed.), 2013. "Advances in Economics and Econometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107627314.
    6. Acemoglu,Daron & Arellano,Manuel & Dekel,Eddie (ed.), 2013. "Advances in Economics and Econometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107016040.
    7. Acemoglu,Daron & Arellano,Manuel & Dekel,Eddie (ed.), 2013. "Advances in Economics and Econometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107638105.
    8. Garcia-López, Miquel-Ángel & Holl, Adelheid & Viladecans-Marsal, Elisabet, 2015. "Suburbanization and highways in Spain when the Romans and the Bourbons still shape its cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 52-67.
    9. Acemoglu,Daron & Arellano,Manuel & Dekel,Eddie (ed.), 2013. "Advances in Economics and Econometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107016057.
    10. Acemoglu,Daron & Arellano,Manuel & Dekel,Eddie (ed.), 2013. "Advances in Economics and Econometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107674165.
    11. Ömer Özak, 2018. "Distance to the pre-industrial technological frontier and economic development," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 175-221, June.
    12. Gaure, Simen, 2013. "OLS with multiple high dimensional category variables," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 8-18.
    13. Laurent Bergé, 2018. "Efficient estimation of maximum likelihood models with multiple fixed-effects: the R package FENmlm," DEM Discussion Paper Series 18-13, Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg.
    14. Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), 2015. "Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 5, number 5.
    15. Adamson, Jordan, 2020. "Political institutions, resources, and war: Theory and evidence from ancient Rome," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Muscatelli, Anton & Roy, Graeme & Trew, Alex, 2022. "Persistent States: Lessons For Scottish Devolution And Independence," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 260, pages 51-63, May.
    2. Ahmad, Zofia & Chicoine, Luke, 2021. "Silk Roads to Riches: Persistence Along an Ancient Trade Network," MPRA Paper 105146, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Dalgaard, Carl-Johan & Kaarsen, Nicolai & Olsson, Ola & Selaya, Pablo, 2022. "Roman roads to prosperity: Persistence and non-persistence of public infrastructure," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 896-916.
    4. Erik Hornung, 2021. "Industrialisierung im Deutschen Reich: Welche Rolle spielte die öffentliche Infrastruktur?," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 101(4), pages 258-262, April.
    5. Anna Bottasso & Maurizio Conti & Simone Robbiano & Marta Santagata, 2022. "Roads to innovation: Evidence from Italy," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(4), pages 981-1005, September.
    6. Michael Fritsch & Michael Wyrwich, 2023. "Entrepreneurship in the Long-Run: Empirical Evidence and Historical Mechanisms," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 19(1), pages 1-125, January.
    7. Frensch, Richard & Fidrmuc, Jarko & Rindler, Michael, 2023. "Topography, borders, and trade across Europe," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 816-832.
    8. Eric Melander, 2020. "Transportation Technology, Individual Mobility and Social Mobilisation," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 471, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    9. Michael Fritsch & Martin Obschonka & Fabian Wahl & Michael Wyrwich, 2021. "Cultural Imprinting: Ancient Origins of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Germany," Jena Economics Research Papers 2021-012, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    10. Fernihough, Alan, 2024. "Economic Geography and the Irish Border: A Market Access Approach," QBS Working Paper Series 2024/02, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's Business School.
    11. Hanlon, W.Walker & Heblich, Stephan, 2022. "History and urban economics," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    12. Federico Etro, 2022. "Art and Markets in the Greco-Roman World," Working Papers - Economics wp2022_27.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    13. Marta Santagata, 2022. "Roads and intra‐national trade: Evidence from Italian regions," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 101(6), pages 1383-1409, December.
    14. Gunes Gokmen & Wessel N. Vermeulen & Pierre-Louis Vézina, 2020. "The imperial roots of global trade," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 87-145, March.
    15. Duc A. Nguyen & Steven Brakman & Harry Garretsen & Tristan Kohl, 2023. "What’s in a Name? Initial Geography and German Urban Development," CESifo Working Paper Series 10435, CESifo.
    16. Miquel-Àngel Garcia-López & Alfonso Herranz-Loncán & Filippo Tassinari & Elisabet Viladecans-Marsal, 2021. "Paving the way to modern growth. Evidence from Bourbon roads in Spain," Working Papers 0209, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    17. Andrew Dickens & Nils‐Petter Lagerlöf, 2023. "The long‐run agglomeration effects of early agriculture in Europe," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(3), pages 629-651, July.
    18. Wan, Guanghua & Wang, Xu & Zhang, Rui & Zhang, Xun, 2022. "The impact of road infrastructure on economic circulation: Market expansion and input cost saving," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jonathan I. Dingel & Felix Tintelnot, 2020. "Spatial Economics for Granular Settings," NBER Working Papers 27287, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Hinz, Julian & Stammann, Amrei & Wanner, Joschka, 2019. "Persistent zeros: The extensive margin of trade," Kiel Working Papers 2139, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    3. Stijn Claessens & M. Ayhan Kose, 2017. "Asset prices and macroeconomic outcomes: A survey," CAMA Working Papers 2017-76, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    4. Stephen J. Redding, 2020. "Trade and Geography," NBER Working Papers 27821, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Kalouptsidi, Myrto & Barwick, Panle Jia & Zahur, Nahim Bin, 2019. "China’s Industrial Policy: an Empirical Evaluation," CEPR Discussion Papers 13889, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Elsby, Michael W.L. & Hobijn, Bart & Şahin, Ayşegül, 2015. "On the importance of the participation margin for labor market fluctuations," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 64-82.
    7. Haiwen Zhou, 2018. "Impact of international trade on unemployment under oligopoly," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(4), pages 365-379, May.
    8. Jongrim Ha & M. Ayhan Kose & Christopher Otrok & Eswar S. Prasad, 2020. "Global macro-financial cycles and spillovers," CAMA Working Papers 2020-12, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    9. Gary E. Bolton & David J. Kusterer & Johannes Mans, 2015. "Inflated reputations: Uncertainty, leniency & moral wiggle room in trader feedback systems," Cologne Graduate School Working Paper Series 06-04, Cologne Graduate School in Management, Economics and Social Sciences, revised 29 Jul 2016.
    10. Alireza Naghavi & Chiara Strozzi, 2017. "Intellectual property rights and diaspora knowledge networks: Can patent protection generate brain gain from skilled migration?," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 50(4), pages 995-1022, November.
    11. Wen Xu, 2016. "Estimation of Dynamic Panel Data Models with Stochastic Volatility Using Particle Filters," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-13, October.
    12. Özgür Orhangazi & A. Erinç Yeldan, 2021. "The Re‐making of the Turkish Crisis," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 52(3), pages 460-503, May.
    13. Alejandro Castañeda & Cesar Martinelli, 2015. "Political Economics of Broadcast Media," Working Papers 1055, George Mason University, Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science.
    14. Alessandra Bonfiglioli & Rosario Crinò & Gino Gancia, 2018. "Firms and Economic Performance: A view from Trade," Working Papers 1034, Barcelona School of Economics.
    15. Ramanarayanan, Ananth, 2017. "Imported inputs, irreversibility, and international trade dynamics," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 1-18.
    16. Drew Creal & Siem Jan Koopman & André Lucas & Marcin Zamojski, 2015. "Generalized Autoregressive Method of Moments," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 15-138/III, Tinbergen Institute, revised 06 Jul 2018.
    17. Jakob Palek, 2015. "The Optimal Monetary and Fiscal Policy Mix in a Financially Heterogeneous Monetary Union," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201506, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    18. Bjarni G. Einarsson & Kristófer Gunnlaugsson & Thorvardur Tjörvi Ólafsson & Thórarinn G. Pétursson, 2016. "Small open economies in the vast oceanof global high finance," Economics wp73, Department of Economics, Central bank of Iceland.
    19. Loïc Berger & Louis Eeckhoudt, 2020. "Risk, Ambiguity, And The Value Of Diversification," Working Papers hal-02910906, HAL.
    20. Diederik Aerts & Emmanuel Haven & Sandro Sozzo, 2016. "A Proposal to Extend Expected Utility in a Quantum Probabilistic Framework," Papers 1612.08583, arXiv.org.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic integration; Roman trade; transport network connectivity; business links; cultural similarity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F15 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Economic Integration
    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
    • N73 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)
    • R40 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - General
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ajk:ajkdps:051. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ECONtribute Office (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.econtribute.de .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.