The Calculus of Conquests: The Decline and Fall of the Returns to Roman Expansion

Public Choice Society ^ | March 11–14, 2004 | Gary M. Pecquet and R. Morris Coats

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Abstract:

As noted by the historian, Edward Gibbon, Augustus saw that there was no gain from continuing to try to conquer the whole world, as the benefits fell and the costs rose with additional conquests. Gibbon did not examine how the Roman Republic allocated the benefits and burdens of military conquests and how the institutional incentives changed when Augustus Caesar became the first Emperor of Rome. This paper explains how the institutions of the Roman Republic promoted military conquests, and after the returns from foreign conquest declined, the same institutional incentives fueled bloody civil wars, until Caesar Augustus won mastery of Rome. Caesar Augustus, Rome’s first Emperor, faced a new calculus of conquests and reformed the Roman institutions accordingly as he sought to eliminate potential rivals.

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I thought you might find this interesting.

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FYI

[SJackson]

Thanks, long read for later.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Why thank you. You must have real insight to my thought processes. Just call me Temuchin from now on. ;-D