Commercial classes The majority of the people of the Roman Empire were living in rural areas, with a small part of the population engaged in commerce being much poorer than the elite. The industrial output was quite low, due to the fact that the poor majority could not pay for the products. Technological advance was hampered by this fact. Urbanization in the western part of the empire was also limited. Slaves accounting for most of the means of industrial output, rather than technology. See also Roman Britain: Trade Roman currency Roman finance References Further reading Bowman, Alan K., and Andrew Wilson. Quantifying the Roman Economy: Methods and Problems. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Callataÿ, François de. Quantifying the Greco-Roman Economy and Beyond. Bari: Edipuglia, 2014. Duncan-Jones, Richard. Structure and Scale In the Roman Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. Garnsey, Peter, and Richard P. Saller. The Roman Empire: Economy, Society and Culture. 2nd edition. Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2015. Greene, Kevin. The Archaeology of the Roman Economy. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986. Jones, A. H. M. The Roman Economy: Studies In Ancient Economic and Administrative History. Oxford: Blackwell, 1974. Lewit, Tamara. Agricultural Production In the Roman Economy, A.D. 200-400. Oxford: Tempus Reparatum, 1991. Peacock, D. P. S., and D. F. Williams. Amphorae and the Roman Economy: An Introductory Guide. London: Longman, 1986. Russell, Ben. The Economics of the Roman Stone Trade. 1st edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. Scheidel, Walter. The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Scheidel, Walter, Richard P. Saller, and Ian Morris. The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Temin, Peter. The Roman Market Economy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013. Tomber, R. Indo-Roman Trade: From Pots to Pepper. London: Duckworth, 2008. Vrba, Eric Michael. Ancient German Identity In the Shadow of the Roman Empire: The Impact of Roman Trade and Contact Along the Middle Danube Frontier, 10 BC - AD 166. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2008. External links The Romano-British Amphora Trade to A.D. 43 An Overview Ancient Roman Currency and Economy Foreign relations of ancient Rome Economic history of Italy