Market Economy in Rome

During our stay in Rome, we had the chance to visit an amazing market. Fruits, vegetables, clothes and souvenirs lined the stands around the square. Each stand was attended by a local merchant that was willing to negotiate on prices. As you walked past, each seller would call out "special price, one time offer!" in an attempt to attract customers. Usually, if a person walked away during a price negotiation, the seller would drop the price by one or two euros, if not more. A potential customer could also reduce the price by stating they only had a certain amount of euros in cash causing the merchant to reduce his price to that specific amount if they wanted a sale. However, if the buyer tried to drop the price too much, then the seller would take offense and walk away from the negotiation and the potential buyer would have to counteract with a higher offer.

Peter Temin argues in "A Market Economy in the Early Roman Empire" that ancient Rome exhibits a market economy. He argued that even though the Roman market was comprised of many smaller market economies, they still worked together in order to be a part of the larger Mediterranean market. Because there was not a single market where all goods were represented, consumers needed to travel to other independent markets where other goods and services were sold. If a buyer wanted a slave, then they went to a slave market, not a market for food. These multiple smaller markets came together to form ancient Rome's market economy, which in some ways is still present today with the street markets of today.