Bones and Standard of Living

[Sean Manning]

The Malthusians often get into trouble when they argue for no net economic change over thousands of years or difference between societies- many people took a lot of risks to move between say settler and indigenous societies in the eastern woodlands of North America after looking at the way both cultures lived, and life was very different in Lugdunum in 400 BCE and 100 CE (and the idea that women had no control over their fertility makes family historian beat their heads on their desks). On the other hand, it does seem very common that good times lead to population growth which lead to food shortages and epidemics and reverse the previous gains.

I wonder to what extent those baths and aqueducts were just counteracting the health effects of cramming so many people into cities in the first place. Busy trade routes can spread diseases as well as tableware.

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And here is another study: W.M. Jongman,etal.,"Health and wealth in the Roman Empire," Econ.Hum.Biol.(2019),https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2019.01.005 https://delong.typepad.com/rome.pdf I am a bit worried to see the Edict of Maximum Prices cited, I have a bad feeling that its grain prices are say "twice average" and its other prices are say "20% over average" because supply and demand of grain are so unstable. A pottery factory has quite a bit of control over production, a farmer is at the mercy of sun and rain and pests.