Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-2021

Department

Economics

Abstract

Different chroniclers of the history of the Byzantine Empire have noted various economic data gleamed from historical documents and accounts of the empire at different periods of time. Research for this paper has not uncovered any estimates of long term, annual macroeconomic data (gross domestic product (GDP), national income (NI), etc.) for the empire during its existence. Such data has been estimated to one extent or another for other nations and societies that have existed during the middle ages. This paper attempts to provide conjectures on approximate real GDP per capita trends for the empire over its existence from AD 300 to 1453. Finally, some hypotheses on factors that would have affected Byzantine economic performance are tested using climate/environmental factors. The results of this paper appear to confirm some findings on how the Byzantine economy might have been affected by periods of regional climate change.

Comments

This is the author's original manuscript version of the article that was later published in Human Ecology, volume 50, issue 5, in October 2022.

It can be found in final, published form at: Byzantine Empire Economic Growth: Did Past Climate Change Play a Role? | SpringerLink

Original Publication Information

Lambert, T. Byzantine Empire Economic Growth: Did Past Climate Change Play a Role? Hum Ecol 50, 803–816 (2022).

DOI

10.1007/s10745-022-00343-3

ORCID

0000-0003-2453-1407

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