1 Forthcoming in: P. Erdkamp, K. Verboven and A. Zuiderhoek (eds.), Capital, Investment and Innovation in the Roman World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Population, technology, and economic growth in the Roman world Paul Erdkamp INTRODUCTION In this paper I intend to link archaeological data that seem to show radically increased levels of consumption with economic theory on models of population, technology and economic growth. The purpose of this exercise is to understand both the scope and constraints of per capita income, living standards and consumption in the conditions of the Roman world and its expanding population. Paradigm shifts in scholarly debates may be compared to earthquakes, which are caused by the slow build-up of tectonic tension. Concerning the debate on economic growth in the Roman world, the fault lines seem to lie to a large extent between archaeology and ancient history. Although it has become convention nowadays for scholars working on the ancient economy to claim a desire to go beyond the debate between primitivists and modernists – a debate that is generally declared to have been futile and unproductive –, many studies still start with Moses Finley and the numerous ways in which his minimalist depiction of the economic performance of the ancient world is seen as flawed. Although Finley regularly made use of archaeological data to support his views, in general he appears sceptical about the role archaeology could play in answering fundamental questions concerning the ancient economy. For example, in response to the supposed prosperity of the ceramic industry in the Roman world, he wrote: “As for Lezoux and La Graufesenque, they flourish only in archaeological manuals”, while, regarding the grandness of public works in Antiquity, he observed: “Most public works […] required more muscle than skill. But at that point our sources, with their disinterest in such matters, desert us, and archaeology cannot help”. 1 ECONOMIC GROWTH IN THE ROMAN WORLD: THE OPTIMISTIC VIEW To many archaeologists, economic growth and high levels of performance emerge clearly and undeniably from the material remains of Roman society. Take Ward-Perkins, for example: “Archaeologists collect, wash, mark, sort, store, study, draw, and publish the thousands upon thousands of Roman potsherds discovered in excavation and field survey, and thereby develop a healthy respect for the impressive quantity (and quality) of pottery in circulation in ancient times. Sadly, it is very difficult to translate this experience satisfactorily into the words (let 1 Finley 1973, resp. 137, 75.