Villas, Taxes and Trade in Fourth Century Hispania
In: Local Economies?
Author:
Kim Bowes
Kim Bowes
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Abstract
Many current models of the Roman economy are predicated on a bleak Late Antiquity, including Hopkins’ “taxes and trade” model. These models have yet to reckon with an uptick in economic matrices in the early 4th. This article addresses one piece of this puzzle, namely, expansion of villa construction in Hispania. The articles argues that this expansion was tied to increased imperial presence and intensified taxation, and produced a band of social opportunism of which villas are the detritus.