The Economic Lives of the 90%

How did the majority of Romans get by? What were their strategies for survival?

This talk describes how the Roman world created a set of bitter challenges and opportunistic hustles for everyone from farmers and craftspeople to day laborers and slaves. Working people co-produced a consumer revolution, making and buying everything from fine pottery to children’s toys. Many of the poorest working people lived with—but not on—wages. And Romans’ most daunting challenge was the struggle to save. These economies of survival were shared by a wide swath of people, blurring the lines between genders, ages, and legal status.

Using the lives of three Roman families, this talk lays out a new vision of the Roman economy, one constructed from the bottom up.