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Information Governance in Roman Finance

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Managing Information in the Roman Economy

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Ancient Economies ((PASTAE))

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Abstract

This paper studies the role of information as a determinant of the performance of the Roman financial system. I extend the traditional transaction cost approach by using a concept borrowed from organisation sciences: ‘Information Governance System’ (IGS). Information governance (IG) comprises all socially or formally instituted processes that regulate the production, circulation, valuation, storage, retrieval, and processing of information. The concept of IG system denotes how these processes are structured (including through the unequal distribution of resources and skill sets) and which rule sets define them. I argue that the institutional framework of the Roman Empire offered procedures for IG that supported the development of a market for financial services to long-distance traders. The IGS it supported hinged on universalistic standards of codification and legal regulations. These made credit operations possible between anonymous agents or (probably more commonly) agents who were linked only through weak ties. While the dominant paradigm for long-distance trading organisations remained that of personal trust networks, the public order IGS underlying the credit market allowed these organisations a greater scope in arranging and handling their financial needs. Ethnically based communities and guilds existed and no doubt provided cheap(er) alternatives in some cases, but they did not, as far as we can see, control credit provisioning in long-distance trade ventures. Private bankers, both deposit bankers and bankers sensu largo, offered viable alternatives. The public order IGS of Roman finance, however, required considerable knowledge and skills. As in late medieval Europe it led to the emergence of financial specialists, offering a range of services catering to the needs of long-distance traders. As such it was a positive determinant for the economic growth we see documented in the material record.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Hidalgo 2016: 1; for NIE see for instance North 1990, 2005: 120 (and passim).

  2. 2.

    For a general discussion of the possibilities, limitations and pitfalls see Cf. Wilson 2009a, b; Verboven 2018.

  3. 3.

    Scheidel 2009, 2012; Bang 2007, 2008.

  4. 4.

    Erdkamp 2001, 2016; Jongman 2016, 2017; see Temin 2013 for an economist’s view.

  5. 5.

    Douglass North calls this the ‘incentive structure’ of society; the concept is central throughout his work, see particularly North 1990, 2005; for a brief introduction see North 2008.

  6. 6.

    Akerlof 1970; North 1990: 28–30, 41; Temin 2013: 97–100. See also North 1990: 108–109; 2005 (esp. 13–18) on the effect of uncertainty on economic development.

  7. 7.

    Cf. Kooper, Maes, and Lindgreen 2011: 195–196: ‘Information governance involves establishing an environment and opportunities, rules and decision-making rights for the valuation, creation, collection, analysis, distribution, storage, use and control of information; it answers the question “what information do we need, how do we make use of it and who is responsible for it?”’.

  8. 8.

    On Roman numeracy and accounting techniques see Minaud 2004; 2005a, b.

  9. 9.

    Verboven 2002; cf. De Salvo 2002 for long-distance trade.

  10. 10.

    Terpstra 2013; Broekaert 2017 on the importance of merchant collegia and foreign resident communities to share or withhold information.

  11. 11.

    Baldwin 1979; but see Behrisch 1996 for a more nuanced view.

  12. 12.

    Terpstra 2013, 2019. But see the critical remarks in Verboven 2020b.

  13. 13.

    Broekaert 2016; Verboven 2012.

  14. 14.

    Verboven 2002.

  15. 15.

    See Verboven 2002: 227–286 for the view that key features of Roman agency contract can only be understood as functioning against the backdrop of the dominance of amicitia and patronage in organisations; see also Michel 1962; Kirschenbaum 1987; Nörr 1990; on societas see Verboven 2002: 275–287; Broekaert 2012; socii shared profits and losses but were also tied to each other by bonds of personal trust and solidarity (fides) rooted in close family relationships or friendships

  16. 16.

    Terpstra 2013, 2019.

  17. 17.

    Bruneau 1978, 1991; Trümper 2002; Hasenohr 2007; Trümper 2011; Harland 2013: 56 for more references. Other examples include the Aradians, the Tyrians, and the Alexandrians, see Rauh 1993 and for a critical view Verboven 2020b.

  18. 18.

    Sosin 1999; Aliquot 2011: 88–91, no. 6; Terpstra 2013: 70–87; Soricelli 2007: 137; Verboven 2020b.

  19. 19.

    De Salvo 1992; Sirks 1991; Broekaert 2008; they might go back in some form to the Augustan period, cf. AE 1955, 178; CIL 14.3603; AE 1987, 180 (De Fino 1994); possibly also CIL 6.29725.

  20. 20.

    Verboven 2020b.

  21. 21.

    On the Calvinists in Amsterdam see Grafe and Gelderblom 2010: 490; on the maghribi see Greif 1991, 2006: 58–91, but see also the critique by Edwards and Ogilvie 2012, the reply by Greif 2012 and Goldberg 2012 for a new interpretation.

  22. 22.

    Verboven 2020b; contra Terpstra 2013.

  23. 23.

    Cic. 2 Verr. 1.60. On Roman accounting see Thilo 1980; Minaud 2005b.

  24. 24.

    On the importance of culture in codification practices following public prescriptive norms see Meyer 2004; Terpstra 2013.

  25. 25.

    Cic. Rosc. Com. 7.

  26. 26.

    Camodeca 1993.

  27. 27.

    The literature on Greco-Roman accounting is vast; on legal and technical aspects see Thilo 1980; for accounting as a management tool see Rathbone 1991; on how accounting practices reflected and influenced mental and ideological perceptions of reality see Minaud 2005b; a; regrettably most scholars have focused on agricultural estates, not on trade or finance; for deposit bankers see Andreau 1987: 615–626.

  28. 28.

    de Sainte-Croix 1956; Carandini 1983; Macve 1985.

  29. 29.

    Verboven 2004.

  30. 30.

    Nepos, 15.1; see Rauh 1986: 7–12; Verboven 2002: 227–274 (here also for other examples).

  31. 31.

    Cic. Fam. 5.20.2; 13.26.

  32. 32.

    Gaius 3.30; there were also nomina transcripticia a re in personam used to register sales on credit.

  33. 33.

    Cf. Verboven 2009.

  34. 34.

    P.Mich. 2.121; 123; 5.238.

  35. 35.

    Lerouxel 2012, 2015.

  36. 36.

    Lerouxel ibid.; Jördens 2010a; b for the view that the bibliothèkai enkteseoon were part of a policy to stimulate private interests.

  37. 37.

    See Meyer 2004 for the cultural significance of this formulaic language.

  38. 38.

    See Dig. 48.10 (Paulus, Sent. 5.25); Septimius Severus eventually included unsealed accounts (ibid.); obviously a victim of forgery could also use the (private) actio doli to obtain compensation.

  39. 39.

    Suet. Ner. 17; Paulus, Sent. 5.25.6; Meyer 2004: 163–168.

  40. 40.

    Camodeca 1993, 1999.

  41. 41.

    Zimmermann 1990: 93–94; Sirks 2016; Verboven 2020.

  42. 42.

    Camodeca 1999: 151–160 (TPSulp. 60–65); on the question of whether these nomina arcaria indicate that the Sulpicii were deposit bankers see Verboven 2003b: 436–439.

  43. 43.

    Gaius 3.132; Camodeca 1992: 199–235.

  44. 44.

    Although they stressed that legally speaking it was a venditio nominis; Dig. 30.44.5 (Ulpianus, 22 Ad Sabinum): Eum, qui chirographum legat, debitum legare, non solum tabulas argumento est venditio: nam cum chirographa veneunt, nomen venisse videtur; the oldest attestation is Cato, Agr., 149.2; Verboven 2002: 134–135; 2020; Harris 2008: 192–193; 2006; on legal technicalities see Thilo 1980: 276–318; Zimmermann 1990: 60–63; 158–160.

  45. 45.

    Dig. 2.14.16. pr. (Ulpianus 4 ad edictum).

  46. 46.

    Pro free circulation Harris 2006: 15; Sirks 2016; contra Verboven 2020.

  47. 47.

    Meyer 2004; Terpstra 2013.

  48. 48.

    On private order sanctions working well only within closed communities see Ogilvie 2011: 250–268; on altruistic punishment Verboven 2015: 43–47; Fehr and Gächter 2002; Boyd et al. 2005.

  49. 49.

    Greif 2006; Ogilvie 2011; Grafe and Gelderblom 2010; note, however, the very different approaches: a response to ineffective public institutions (Greif), collusion between merchants and rulers to prevent the development of efficient public institutions (Ogilvie); Gelderblom and Grafe argue that both are not incompatible and that guilds can be a driving force to improve public institutions.

  50. 50.

    Terpstra 2013, 2019.

  51. 51.

    TPSulp. 4.

  52. 52.

    Strab. 16.1.22: εὑρεῖν γὰρ ἐπιδημοῦντας ἔφη πολλοὺς μὲν Ῥωμαίων πολλοὺς δὲ καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ξένων. τοὺς μὲν οὖν ξένους ὁρᾶν κρινομένους πολλάκις καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἐπιχωρίους, τῶν δ᾽ ἐπιχωρίων οὐδένας ἀλλήλοις ἐγκαλοῦντας, ἀλλὰ τὴν πᾶσαν εἰρήνην ἄγοντας πρὸς ἑαυτούς.

  53. 53.

    Cf. Ando 2000: 55–56.

  54. 54.

    Kaser 1996: 427–32.

  55. 55.

    For a history of Roman banking see Andreau 1999; for Greek banking Bogaert 1968.

  56. 56.

    Cf. Dig. 2.13.10.1 (Gaius) “only bankers … are required to present their accounts because their office and service have a public cause and their foremost task is that they diligently draw up accounts of their affairs” (argentarios tantum neque alios ullos absimiles eis edere rationes cogit, quia officium eorum atque ministerium publicam habet causam et haec principalis eorum opera est, ut actus sui rationes diligenter conficiant); see also Dig. 16.3.8 (Papinianus 9 quaestionum) necessarium usum argentariorum ex utilitate publica receptum est); Dig. 42.5.24.2 (Ulpianus 63 ad edictum) qui pecunias apud mensam fidem publicam secuti deposuerunt); on the role of bankers’ archives see Andreau 1995; 1996.

  57. 57.

    For the legal framework see Petrucci 2002.

  58. 58.

    Andreau 1968.

  59. 59.

    IDélos 1715; Bogaert 1968: 190.

  60. 60.

    IDélos 1725; 1726; 1727; he is mentioned among the contributors to reconstruction works on the agora of the Italians (IDélos 2612); not everyone liked him: he is the target of a curse tablet (IDélos 2534); Bogaert 1968: 189.

  61. 61.

    IDélos 1520; Bogaert 1968: 187–188.

  62. 62.

    IDélos 1729, mentioned also in IDélos 1728; Bogaert 1968: 190; Tenos: IG 12.860; Bogaert 1968: 193–196; Migeotte 1986: 221–226.

  63. 63.

    Andreau 1987: 333–356 (late Hellenistic period); 1987: 359–438 (late Republic and early Empire); 1999: 30–49; Kay 2014: 235–265.

  64. 64.

    Andreau 1974; Petrucci 2008; García Morcillo 2005, 2008.

  65. 65.

    Dig. 16.3.7 (Ulpianus 30 ad edictum).

  66. 66.

    Only three examples of bank loans are attested: Bogaert 2000: 265–266; on deposit bankers brokering private loans see Lerouxel 2008, 2016: 85–86, 133–143.

  67. 67.

    SB 14.11850; see also PSI 7.735; P. Oslo 3.89 for one of the creditors; cf. Casson 1986a: 13.

  68. 68.

    Cf. Cic. Off. 3.58 on the immoral banker Pythius who was ut argentarius apud omnes ordines gratiosus.

  69. 69.

    Dig. 14.3.19.3 (Papinianus 3 responsorum) shows it is implied in the praepositio faenerandis causa, the institution of a slave agent as moneylender; see Verboven 2008, 2020.

  70. 70.

    Sen. Ep. 119.

  71. 71.

    Dig. 50.14 (Ulpianus).

  72. 72.

    Casson 1986b, 1990; Rathbone 2001, 2003; Verboven 2020.

  73. 73.

    Camodeca 1999; Andreau 1999: 71–79.

  74. 74.

    We hear of debts of 94,000 sesterces (TPSulp. 69), 125,000 (TPSulp. 49) and even 130,000 sesterces (TPSulp. 74). The average value is 10,791 sesterces. Some debts are repaid in installments, some are consolidated.

  75. 75.

    For a discussion see Verboven 2003a, b, 2008, 2020 (and there for further references).

  76. 76.

    See the special issue of Media History 22.3–4 (2016) on ‘Managing the News in Early Modern Europe, 1550–1800’.

  77. 77.

    Cf. Veluwenkamp 2006 (134: “The postal revolution of the seventeenth century removed the need for business trips, expatriate agents and, eventually, commission agents as it disseminated information, expertise and trust. It paved the way to direct trade between local businessmen in different countries”).

  78. 78.

    Cf. Geva 2011.

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    Koenraad Verboven

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Verboven, K. (2021). Information Governance in Roman Finance. In: Rosillo-López, C., García Morcillo, M. (eds) Managing Information in the Roman Economy. Palgrave Studies in Ancient Economies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54100-2_13

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