"On the Political Economy of the Roman Empire"

This article should answer any questions relating to the sources of power and wealth within the Roman Empire and, to a degree, the ancient world in general. Other topics include the centrality of the Mediterranean, the process of 'Romanisation', and population. Its only 15 pages, so I'm hoping enough of you will read to get a competent discussion started on the future of EB without everyone having to be an historian.

http://sshi.stanford.edu/Conferences...es/hopkins.pdf

Reading now, it's very focused on the period after EB's timeframe.