| This dissertation asks how agrarian institutions in Egypt changed through the political transition from the Ptolemaic dynasty (305--30 BCE) to Roman rule. Agrarian institutions are central because they constitute the basic structure that determines economic behavior in an agrarian society. It is argued that the transition from Ptolemaic to Roman rule coincides with a shift in the institutional structure along a continuum from a redistributive to a market economy. However, the potential contribution of this study is not to establish that institutional change occurred, since most historians already argue that there was discontinuity, but to explain how it happened. Prevailing ideas suggest that Augustus or his successors initiated comprehensive reforms of land tenure, civic status, temple estates, and administration in order to create a Greek urban elite capable of local self-governance. This study adopts a more limited estimation of early Roman reforms and identifies endogenous factors leading to institutional change. The basic model is that the Roman conquest altered the political structure, enabling the administration to abolish royal and temple harvest taxes, raising the value of land ownership relative to office holding, and creating better incentives for land reclamation and investment. |
