Buying a Province, Building an Empire: Money, Markets, and Growth in Roman Africa from Augustus to Aurelian

My doctoral research centers on the development of markets, the increase of production, and the role of money and investment in the Roman provinces of North Africa. A central concern of my research is with the different ways that state agents and local elites contributed to the development of markets and urbanization in the region. Engaging with recent developments in economic theory and political science, I argue that the social institutions which promoted spending on munificence by wealthy Romans were a key factor in turning the region's urban areas into economic nodes as well as in the overall economic development of Roman Africa during the imperial period. My primary contention is that the institutional makeup of Roman Africa both promoted spending on munificence by wealthy Romans and that this spending, in turn, was a key factor in transforming the region's urban areas into economic nodes as well as in the overall economic development and stability of Roman Africa during the imperial period. I also explore how small changes in the region's institutional makeup led to a sharp period of economic decline and political instability during the third century CE.