Bubbles: Part 9 - Roman land (33 A.D.) and Beanie Babies ('95-'99)
Let's look at two less well-known bubbles that expanded at different times, in different places, in very different assets.
The Roman Empire Land Bust of 33 A.D.
Setting The Scene
The Ancient Roman economy, especially during the Roman Republic period, was rural and based primarily on trading agricultural commodities like grain and wine. During this period, the Romans established many trade routes and commodity markets. But, because more people meant more food, the economy was restricted by the amount of farmland and available food production. This bottleneck ensured that farmland necessarily became increasingly more valuable.
To give you some context, despite being one of the wealthiest empires of history, the Roman’s were extraordinarily poor compared to modern standards. At the absolute pinnacle of the Empire’s wealth, GDP was about USD 530 per person (in 2019 money). This GDP made the ancient Romans poorer than every country on earth in 2019.
Around the time that the Roman Republic became the Roman Empire (27 B.C.), the Romans developed the widespread use of money and coinage. While coinage made the econom…