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Yes, there are a number of companies in this space of ridesharing.In terms of the question you asked, "could a gps+internet solution" be used to solve this problem, that's actually Carma's solution. We've been working on this problem for more than 5 years, believe it or not, and we're on our 8th generation of software. In 2012, the services are being rolled out in the San Francisco area in a very active way (with the active involvement and sponsorship of cities, transport authorities, companies, etc). Also, we're getting a similar level of engagement with Santa Barbara, Washington DC, and some cities internationally.You asked if a gps+internet solution (e.g., smartphones) would be appropriate for this. And you are absolutely right, that's the fundamental difference between what is going on now in the market and what's been available for 15 years on regular web-based matching. Sites like craigslist, ridematch.511.org, liftshare.co.uk, erideshare.com etc., have been around forever, and yet they haven't really taken off (yet), or provided an excellent user experience in the way that people have become accustomed to in the web/mobile experience of 2012.The old approach of pre-arranged ridesharing may in fact still have some traction, and relatively new entrants, like 4+-year-old Zimride, have introduced some improvements in this space in the United States. Pre-arranged ridesharing, in the long-standing European model (http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de/ and http://covoiturage.fr) and in the Zimride model, seems geared towards intercity travel. That makes sense, because if you think about it, you may be willing to go to the effort of logging into a web page, searching for possible ride matches and then giving people phone calls and e-mails to co-ordinate your travel... well, it's a lot of effort, but for many people it's worth it because it's a lot of money that you could potentially save if you find a travel partner, even if you do have to go somewhat out of your way to meet the other person and arrange your schedules to overlap. Gas isn't getting any cheaper.As one of the other posters noted, there is a critical mass problem with all these collaborative consumption models. That's particularly true in ridesharing, and that's also why it's a fundamentally harder problem to solve the short-distance ridesharing problem (the daily commute) vs. the longer-distance, occasional intercity trip problem.Critical mass on a short distance commute is a lot harder because, hey you may easily be able to shift your schedule by an hour or two for a 6 hour journey between San Jose to Los Angeles, but there is no way you'll shift your commute by more than 15 minutes or so for your daily commute... meaning there needs to be many times more commuters transiting a route in the local area. (I know, there are also 50x as many people taking the short distance commute, but still you need to get them on board... that's why Carma gathers thousands of people into our launches in the bay area, DC, etc., before we do a launch).Your question asked can anyone become a temporary taxi driver... that is actually likely a different model than ridesharing. But it's much, much harder to accomplish that, because of the insurance implications... It's legal to share the cost of your journey, and that works with all forms of insurance (Carma caps your earnings to the IRS rate of ~$0.55/mi, making the journey a non-commercial journey). Taxis average about 9 times this expense, and Uber charges 50% or even twice what taxis charge. At that point, you're going to run into legislative & legal problems.Carma's model isn't like a taxi model... in a taxi, like Uber, you'll go wherever the rider wants, at the time of their choosing. In Carma's model, you're already on your daily commute, and you just share the empty seats... therefore the Carma model is more like a bus model than a taxi model. Other companies have come out (since the time you posted your question!) that also use Carma's approach.(updated Nov 2013 to note the change of name from Avego to Carma)

Updated the Answer and added few additional things that has happen in last two years too.The answer is a big Yes, Most of the people who answered here are either not residing in Andhra Pradesh or they aren’t aware of things happening in AP. Bare with me as it is a pretty big answer included what CBN has done in the past 5 years.This time CBN became CM for a state that doesn’t have a capital and with a government deficit of about 17k Crores.He has been converting crisis into an opportunity from Day 1 let me make you to go through the things happened in the state after he taking charge as CM in 2014.HUDHUD in 2014After he took charge in 2014 HUDHUD was an uninvited guest it was the biggest cyclone in Vizag’s history as a Viziagite i knew it personally, my parents witnessed it. When HudHud hit Vizag I’m in Hyderabad, When things restored i called my mother and she said how harsh mother nature was. AP under the leadership of CBN is completely prepared and CBN brought normalcy in a week. He brought most of the government employees to Vizag and made them work to get things under control. In our area power was restored in 3 days, in Villages it took 5–6 days. He is the first one to reach Vizag after HUDHUD hit Vizag, he worked in a bus and brought things under control. He gave stern warnings to telecom operators and made them to restore their networks ASAP.After 3 years recently this happened, Kudos to GVMC and AP Government.VizagHe is trying hard to make Vizag an IT Hub. The construction of Millennium Tower was completed a few months back and Conduent has started operations in it. They have even started Construction of Tower 2 next to it. There is even a lot of Pitching going on for promoting Vizag as a Fintech Destoination. Roadshows conducted in Hongkong, Bangalore, London, Tel Aviv, New York City and many other cities across the globe. To know more about it follow their twitter handle here[1]TU-142 is brought to Vizag and that is being made as a museum, there are even plans of bringing INS Viraat to Vizag the talks are still happening. New Glass domed train to ArakuGVMC will be the first Municipal Corporation in India to deploy a 100 mass electric two-wheeler mobility system. GVMC sanitary supervisors will be using these for their daily patrol and supervision.AP Med Tech Zone, VizagAdani group has come forward to invest 70,000 Crores in coming 20 years, They will setup three 1 Giga Watt Data centers in Kapuluppada Data Center park.Rise of AmaravatiAccording to me, Amaravati is the right place to be chosen as a capital it has got both the historical significance and the needed resources to be the futuristic capital of AP. Amaravati, a place with great heritage running back over 2000 years. Nowhere in Independent India, 30,000 acres of land is pooled voluntarily, it’s CBN’s innovative idea of land pooling that’s a win-win for both the government and farmers. Many states today are adopting CBN’s land pooling scheme for developmental activities in their states. Made Singapore Government prepare the master plan for Amaravati for free of cost.Appointed Fosters + Partners [2]as the architects for the government complex. Here is the master plan that was recently submitted to Government of Andhra Pradesh by Foster + Partners. By looking at it I am sure and confident that Amaravati will be India's and one of the world's best city. Brace yourself Chandigarh we are going to steal best city tag from you in two decades. This is the final design of our assembly building that is going to come up at our World class Amaravati.For closely working with people of AP he wanted to shift from Hyderabad, Within 197 days he is able to do this in AmaravatiTemporary High Court Secretariat and Assembly are up and now functioning, Seed Axis roadworks are happening in full Swing. VIT, SRM started constructing their campuses in Amaravati. AIIMS construction started in Amaravati.Singapore Government and AP Government signed an MOU recently. Singapore Government Consortium will develop a 6.58 Km of startup area which will be almost 16 times bigger and better than the Raheja Mind space in Hyderabad which was built when he was the erstwhile CM of AP.Vijayawada got it’s brand new Airport terminal in less than a yearCurrent status of AmaravatiMost of my friends feel that Amaravati is going at a slower pace, But according to me, it’s not, the reasons are In a country like India pooling 34000 acres of land in a year is itself an achievement thanks to CBN’s innovative land pooling idea. If you can check the status of land acquisition of some other projects like Navi Mumbai airport and even Modi’s Pet Project(Bullet train) land acquisition has become a big problem.And also people don’t realize the amount of effort that is being put for the trunk infrastructure like sewage, Electricity, fresh water supply, and other works as they are done underground and are not visible.Majority of Government Employees housing projects are in the final stages. Construction of Government complex towers has been started and are in full swing. A total of about 40,000 Crore works are being done in Amaravati.Check this Video for the status of Amaravati here[3] .Uplifting RayalaseemaRayalaseema getting most of the investments is a sign that CBN wants to lift people of Seema from factionism.Rayalaseema gets MI, Dixon, TCL, Zoho Hero, KIA, Apollo tyres, ISUZU, Mega Seeds Factory, Oravakallu Airport, Jairaj Steel plant and Kurnool Solar Plant.Do you know that Kochi Metro and Sydney Metro Coaches are Made in Andhra at our Alstom Facility in Sri City.Here is a video of Chittoor MI plant, the MI phone in your hand is Made in Andhra Pradesh.India’s biggest FDI after Modi announcing #MakeInIndia Kia Motors India entry to Anathapuram, AP. A Huge sum of 2 billion USD investment.When I have written this answer couple of years back the MoU was signed but today the plant is up and it has changed the face of Penukonda region. Kia’s first car will be out anytime soon. To know more check this out[4]The most important thing is People of Seema got water through Pattiseema.Power Reforms and Renewable EnergyAP started its account as a power deficit state, CBN mobilized and managed to enter Centers power for all scheme and today AP is power surplus state. AP added almost 4000mw of renewable power capacity to its grid after CBN taking charge. Today AP is 100% electrified state after TN and Gujarat. AP distribution losses are the lowest in the country.AP is the top 3 in the distribution of LED bulbs you can check that here[5]You can track power cuts, Power supply to your city and towns in AP here[6]One of world’s Largest Solar Park in AP in Kurnool 1000mw, This is bigger than the one in TN built by Adani.3Gw of Renewable Energy Projects are in Pipeline.AP govt has signed an MoU with Kia for creating electric vehicle ecosystem in the state[7]AgricultureThere is a myth that CBN never cares about Agriculture, but he is going shut all of their mouths with his work. He waived off about 24,000 Crores of loans for farmers, UP is going to study our loan waiver scheme. Almost 13,000 crores are done till now and the remaining will be done in the next couple of years. For the first time in the country, a special Budget for Agriculture was introduced.In the last 3 years, there are about 3.11 lakhs of Farm Ponds are being dug in AP. Data shows that the Center has built only 5,78,589 farm ponds. Andhra Pradesh has built 3,11,361 farm ponds, which is the highest by any State.He is planning to build 20,000 check dams in a year. AP government, along with ISRO, has prepared an action plan to meet drinking water and irrigation needs in drought-prone areas, the programme will be launched in Rayalaseema region soon.Rain Guns and innovative way of saving crop in drought is being brought in place. Subsidy on tractors, crop insurance, and farmer income support scheme of 15000 rupees(this includes centers Kissan Saman Nidhi 6000, State govt is paying an extra 9000 rupees)Special care for Polavaram the lifeline of AP, Made Every first day of Week Monday as Polavaram Day and inspecting it on the weekly basis after many years works are moving at faster pace, I’m sure polavaram will be completed under his leadership.When states like TN and Karnataka are fighting for Cauvery water he built a Lift Irrigation project called Patissema Lift and saved 100+ TMC of water to sent water to Drought hit Rayalaseema.AP is the first state in India to launch Plantix App for the farmers it can provide the information about the disease for the crop if any just with a photograph.Picture from training sessions to farmersStarted an amazing program called Manam-Vanam for planting trees and recently in recent ISFR 2017 rankings where India forest cover Increased by 1% and AP stood first with an increase of 2,141 sq km.One project that I like most w.r.t to the Agriculture sector is CBN is pushing farmers of AP into Natural farming. If you are interested to know more about it check it here[8]Healthcare:AP, first state in India to achieve Universal Health Security- Aarogya Raksha. It offers healthcare insurance to its citizens.[9]AP is the only state in the country to provide CT and MRI scanning free of cost at all district hospitals.Talli Bidda Express, A special Ambulance service for pregnant womenReforms in Education:A special organization named AP Janmabhomi was formed to connect NRI to its villages with 70% Government and 30% NRIS fund they are planning to convert 5000 government schools in AP to digital schools.For stopping girl child dropouts Government has introduced a special scheme to girl child's living in rural villages. Every girl child will get a new cycle for going to schoolTechnology in Administration:Our Chief is a big time believer of Technology here are some of the innovative things that make him so special. AP is the first state to have innovative dashboard[10] where we can track rainfall, street lights, groundwater levels and many more. It uses IOT first state in India to do so, many CMs don't even understand what IOT is. Many other states in India want to copy the same, recently Modi Govt launched similar kind of Dashboard on the occasion of completing 48 months in Govt.CBN is using Kaizala App to take feedback from it’s citizens. After giving feedback many of my friends got phone calls regarding the feedback provided in the App and how can they improve.We are going to take all departments online a project called e-pragati is floated and Microsoft is working with us.AP is the first state to have Skype Bot in Skype where you will be provided information about the AP Transport Department[11]CBN gave a Presentation about his vision for Andhra and What is trying to do in a Microsoft Event named Future Decoded if interested check that here[12].A citizen centric hotline has been started, dial in for 1100 and tell your problem, concerned team will look into it.AP Fiber provides the cheapest internet in India by a state government, Central government asked other states to follow AP Model. I have recently checked this in my hometown pretty impressed with the speed.You get 250 Channels, 5 GB of Unlimited internet and a Phone connection for 150 Rupees. The Box costs 5000 rupees which can be availed through EMI.AP disaster management is the first state in India to use technology that can locate the fall of a thunderbolt 30 minutes in advance. Citizens are alerted in that region via an SMS(Only for BSNL Network as of now)We have a technology for tracking the live rainfall, weather, etc. we developed that in association with ISRO.[13] Just go through the link you will love it.We have a Real Time Governance center for tracking the progress of all the departments.Real-Time Governance(RTG) center include Hitachi visualization suite for matrix surveillance and public safety first of its kind in India, Pentaho bi suite, for real-time data analytics, Barco video wall, the biggest laser-lit wall in India with 24 screens, Matrix camera analytics and data analytics from different departments are displayed on the laser-lit wall and processing in real time governance.Check out the Video by HitachiHitachi Resources - Search by Industry or ContentRecently Ambani hailed CBN for RTGCheck this out, Chandra Babu Naidu: Father of E-Governance a Video From DavosSmart Streets - A Pilot Project by Cisco and Govt of AP, First time in India.Don't Miss it, Have a look here:http://players.brightcove.net/1384193102001/NJgI8K0ie_default/index.html?videoId=5597494640001APIIC which has played a crucial role in getting investments to AP has its own tower now in MangalagiriCheckout the details of it here[14]Great Push to Tourism in Sunrise StateCBN always wanted Tourism industry in AP to develop right from his previous stint he is man who had vision to develop AP as most sought out tourist destination in India. 2000 hotel rooms will be added in AP in the next 2–3 years. Check out some amazing snaps of various places in AP here[15] .Recent Punnami Orvakal Festival, Festivals in Cities like Kakinada, Vizag and other places shows their effort in promoting tourism in APF1H20Kakinada Beach FestivalVisakha Utsav[16]Amaravati Global Music & Dance FestivalOrvakal Festival[17]Araku Ballon FestivalCheck out our Most beautiful Konaseema(AP’s Mini Kerala)[18]First of it’s Kind Nallamala Jungle Safari[19]Experience the Ooty of East Coast and Pristine beaches of Vizag[20]Indian Idol Revanth at recent Orvakal Festival.F1H20 AmarvatiFor more images of F1H20, checkout their official website[21]Araku Ballon Festival (Pic Credits: Suresh Gorantla)India’s biggest Marina is being developed at Amaravati in 3 acres of land with 60 berths.Building Smart VillagesModi gave a call for building smart cities but CBN has different vision he wants to make villages smart. A Pilot Project has been started and successfully implemented in a Village called Mori in East Godavari District. It’s one of India’s most hi-tech village. It’s 100% cashless, every house is connected with AP Fibre(Government Internet and Cable Connection), Water conservation, 100% ODF, Village is completely WiFi enabled, every citizen has a bank account and a solid waste management system.University of California Berkeley & Government of Andhra Pradesh has been working on it, Solomon Darwin (who is the director of Garwood Center[22]) a professor from UCB who hails from Andhra Pradesh is leading this project, Thanks to him and his team. Phase 2 works are going to start very soon now they are going to make 456 villages smart, I’m very impressed with this project and CBN’s vision of making villages smart.Some of the Investments that Came to AP after CBN taking charge:APP Sinar Mas (India’s Biggest FDI $3 Bn)KIA MotorsHero MotocorpMI, Gionee, Celkon, Karbon, Dixon, TCLMondelez International(Parent of Cadbury)ISuzu MotorsAsian Paints(India's largest plant in Vizag)Apollo TyresCEAT TyresMega Food Park in Kurnool500 Crores HCL Centre in AmaravatiXLr8 Andhra Pradesh[23]Several other Small IT & ITES in Vizag, Tirupati, and Vijayawada.Gamesa (Spanish Wind Turbine Company)Vijayanagara Food & Nutraceuticals Limited (India's first coconut processing unit in Vijayanagaram)Aparna Group is going to start a 320 Crore Tiles plant near Kakinada.Bharat Forge.GMR - Kakinada Special Investment Region: This could change the face of Kakinada in the coming days.Andhra Pradesh Medtech Zone Limited: India's first medical devices manufacturing unit in Vizag.Zoho in ReniguntaFranklin Templeton, Vizag[24]Conduent, VizagPi Data Center, Mangalagiri (One of Asia’s largest Data Center)BR Shetty’s Medicity Project in Amaravati (Est Investment $1.8 bn)Jairaj Steels, Kurnool(Est Investment $0.5bn)Ashok Leyland, Krishna DistrictHolitech ($200 Mn)Lixil Group ($60 Mn)Cardlytics, VizagSaint-Gobain[25], VizagSuzlon Energy Ltd, AnathapurBerger Paints, AnathapurAs on 5th March 2018No of Industries that are grounded in AP are 531[26]Amount of investment in Rs. crores 129661Employment Generated (No. of persons) 264754, AP has the lowest unemployment rate in the country.You can track the investments and employment stats here.Welfare Schemes for Poor in AP:Pensions for Old people, Widows, Single Women, Transgenders, Handicapped, hand loom workers, Toddy Tappers and Fishermen.There is a special ambulance service for AP pregnant women i.e 102 Ambulance ServiceChandranna Pelli Kanuka: A Scheme has explicitly been implemented for the welfare of the brides belonging to the backward classes and below the poverty line.Ammaku Vandanam[27] is a new scheme wherein mothers would be invited to the schools on a specific day every year for the special function. This is aimed at paying tributes to mothers and respect motherhood.NTR Videshi Vidyadharana Scheme provides 10 lakhs scholarships for all the people who are unable to afford foreign education.Yuvanestham a special scheme for unemployed youth, they will get 2000 monthly allowance to pursue skill development courses and reduce the burden on the family.Anna Canteens (Similar to Amma Canteens in TN) are opened across AP, Akshaya Patra Foundation is helping AP Govt in providing the meals.Divya Darshan A special scheme for Poor Hindus wherein Poor Hindus are taken on a free trip to Temples in AP, Currently for Tirumala[28].As far as my knowledge AP is the first state where Brahmins have a separate Corporation. Where poor Brahmins can get benefited from the following schemes [29]Awards and Achievements in the last three years:No: 1 in World Bank Ease of Doing BusinessNo: 1 in Private investments in India for the year 2015–16No: 1 in India in energy efficiency by World Bank.Best state in India by CNBCSeveral Awards in Power SectorUSIBC transformative CM for CBNBest CM Award from Bharatiya Chatra SansadAP is No: 3 in tourism in IndiaAP is able to ground 129661 Cr worth of Investments and generated 264754 JobsSector Wise Awards for AP from the past 5 yearsAP has so far received 667 awards in past 5 years from Central Government majority of them are in infrastructure, Power sector, Panchayat Raj and Rural DevelopmentI can say no other state in India has achieved so much as AP did in the past 5 years. I might have missed some and left out few things as the answer has become too big.Note:This is for people of Andhra PradeshGet to know what’s happening in your state and then comment about the leadership and all, most of the people I spoke don’t even know what’s happening they just comment as there is a problem with CBN ruling the state. Problem with our people is vested interests drive our state people don’t like this man for no reason. Many other states people admire him so much and want him as their CM, people of TN would happily take him as CM if offered they are the one who knows it better about the leadership Crisis. Some people of our state feel an actor turned politician a +2 dropout can change our state. Some feel South India’s King of Corruption can change this state. Grow up people when we have a leader who can turn things around why do you people look for options.Thanks for the upvotes.Footnotes[1] Fintech Valley Vizag[2] Amaravati masterplan | Foster + Partners[3] Review on Amaravati Capital City Roads Progress as on 06 Feb 2019[4] Kia Motors Global | Sedans, Hatchbacks, SUVs & MPVs[5] NATIONAL UJALA DASHBOARD[6] AP Vidyut Pravah[7] Andhra Pradesh government inks MoU with Kia Motors to introduce e-vehicles across State[8] Home - Zero Budget Natural Farming[9] NTR Arogya Raksha[10] CM DASHBOARD[11] AP Transport Authority[12] Future Decoded - Chandrababu Naidu[13] Vassar Labs[14] APIIC Tower | to be Inaugurated by CM Chandrababu | at Mangalagiri[15] AP Tourism (@Tourism_AP) | Twitter[16] VISAKHA UTSAV[17] Punnami Orvakal Festival[18] Konaseema[19] NALLAMALAI JUNGLE CAMPS[20] Home page - This Summer[21] F1H2O UIM World Championship[22] Home - Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation[23] XLr8 Andhra Pradesh[24] Franklin Templeton gets 40 acres to set up tech campus in Vizag[25] Saint-Gobain setting up glass unit in Vizag[26] http://164.100.47.190/loksabhaquestions/annex/14/AU1434.pdf[27] Andhra to introduce 'Ammaku Vandanam' in schools [28] దివ్య దర్శనం[29] ABC Schemes

Q: What if Romans adopted feudalism during the empire era?Funny thing is that they actually did. Not that “the Romans” as some broad arbitrating body had any real control over the broad dynamics that controlled the changes in their social, political, and economic systems, but we’ll get to that.If you want to draw the distinction between the Roman economic system and the Medieval economic system, sure. But if you do it, be aware that there was never an abrupt moment of change or shifting over a short period of time. The transformation took place as a result of the natural evolution of socio-political-economic conditions, and it was happening all around the Roman world for centuries before what we really think of as “feudalism” really took hold. We need to address several questions here.Wait a second. Could the Romans have chosen to adopt feudalism? Would it be possible for an ancient empire to change the foundations of its socio-political-economic systems? Could it have been like the Soviets implementing communism and shaping their nation?When people think of the Roman system, they think of a centralized, top-down organized state that had control over a national economy and could divert resources, administer justice, and make decisions in an expedient manner. They conceive of ancient Rome in a similar way that they conceive of modern, industrialized nations, that many matters of economy, society, and politics across the empire were controlled and overseen by a centralized government.There is a fundamental issue with this interpretation: the ancient world was not nearly as connected as our modern world is. Historians talk all the time about how connected the Roman world was, but the networks and connections still did not approach levels that would be necessary for assumptions like these to be valid.Obviously, there was no internet, no telephones, no machine-powered forms of transportation. If you wanted to get stuff from one place to another, your options were limited to walking, using animal-drawn carts, or sailing on ships. It would have taken several weeks to send letters, the fastest form of correspondence, across a place as large as the Roman Empire.The inevitability of these limitations was that the central government of the Roman Empire, while it was powerful, had far less direct control over its provinces than it might seem from the maps. When it takes weeks to do anything far away from the center of power, coupled with a few more weeks to hear back on status updates, it is impossible to intervene on a large scale in local affairs.Don’t let this fool you. Looks can be deceiving.A cohesive “national economy” when fifty trillion different merchants and organizations are floating around? Forget it. Trying to control local markets in the provinces when people are happy with how they do things? Think again. Standardizing currency or prices when lots of people dislike your ideas? Good luck with that. Cracking down on corruption in some small towns in the provinces when good information will never reach you anyway? Fat chance.In essence, these are all the things that us modern readers take for granted that a national government should be able to do. When held to this standard, Roman Empire’s capabilities seem positively crippled. I ask you to change your frame of mind. Forget the ideas of cohesive nations and Westphalian sovereignty and modern governments. Follow me into a different world.Because of all these limitations on transportation time, an ancient government like the Roman Empire operated with a great deal of dependence on its local apparatuses. Provincial governments, powerful aristocrats, city officials, military officers.There would have been no Roman parliament or anything similar. (Not counting the Roman Senate because it was so bad at being representative of the Empire’s provinces and also at getting anything done.) In those days, it was impossible to assemble powerful decision-makers from all across Europe and have them deliberate on matters of state, all while assuring that they maintained close connections to the places and situations they came from.The Roman system could not possibly control each and every city official or landowner or military commander. These powerful people in the provinces did not have enough access to information from all around the Empire to make their decisions with the greater, Empire-wide issues of Rome in mind. As such, they operated primarily on a local level for their own constituents and their own interests.If broad economic or climatic or political shifts caused some transformation in the system, the Roman authority couldn’t have done much about it. In regards to this question about an empire-wide institution of feudalism, they certainly would have had issues with forcing a very diverse set of constituents and entities to adopt a different form of social, political, and economic organization. The Soviets decided to use communism in the 1920s, but the Romans could not have decided to use feudalism in the 100s CE, the same way that the commercialized states of Europe did not choose to use forms of capitalism in the 1700s.Okay, thanks for that. But you still haven’t said how the Roman Empire had feudalism. That seems kind of surprising to me. I always thought that feudalism happened when the barbarians destroyed the Empire.A lot of stuff to unpack here. First of all, what was feudalism? Here’s an oversimplified rundown.The European feudalism that we are taught in classrooms is mostly the type of feudalism that was in place during about 900–1250. In this system, which is terribly complex, various kings had control over vast domains, and he had the authority to request services and resources from his subjects. He controlled vast personal finances, a lot of land, and usually a private army. His numerous subjects were broken up into various groups that fell into different places on the social caste system.At the top, right under the king, were the nobles, usually the ones who hung out with the king and his family and served as his advisers. These nobles were in possession of vast estates of property that yielded them a lot of profit and even more prestige. Collectively, the king and the noble class controlled a large portion of the land in the kingdom, with the Church also owning a substantial amount of property. Keep in mind: land ownership is synonymous with power. These nobles swore their loyalty to the king, pledging their own personal resources and armies to his service whenever they were needed.Below this highest rung of nobles were a lower class that still kept many of the traits of nobility: the knights. This class was still rich and many knights owned substantial tracts of land. Other knights served as vassals to the more powerful nobles, making agreements to lease the land of the nobles for their own personal use. These agreements were usually made with the knight agreeing to march with the noble’s army on campaigns, as well as a portion of the land’s productivity.On the same socioeconomic status as the knights were people like artisans, craftsmen, and merchants. These groups became more unified and cohesive through guild systems and the commercial developments of the High Middle Ages. When cities started growing again around the year 900-1000, the beginnings of a middle class began to take form.The final class, and by far the largest, was the peasant class. There were different types of peasants. Some of them were relatively prosperous and owned some of their own property. Some were tenant farmers on a lord or a knight’s land. Many worked on the manors, or fiefs, that their lords ran; many generations of a family might live out their lives on the same plot of land as tenant farmers.Others were serfs: tied to the manors/fiefs of the lord as property, they worked a plot of land, giving much of their profitable produce in exchange for protection and lodgings. The children of a serf were born into this form of bondage; unless a serf could find the funds or the reasons to break free from the system, there was no upward mobility whatsoever.That explanation was little broad and oversimplified. I will admit that I am not as well-versed in medieval history. It will suffice, however, for our purposes.Okay, so I know what feudalism is now. But how did the Roman economy work in comparison to this? How were they different?Well, first of all, we might want to consider what the Roman economy was like, especially in its latter days. Feudalism was founded upon agreements that many of the peasants worked a lord’s land in exchange for protection and a cut of the outputs. In the Roman economy, we see very similar contracts and agreements from all regions of the Empire. Land ownership in feudal economies was mostly monopolized by nobles and knights, where peasants benefited more from making agreements to use that land rather than owning it themselves. In the Roman Empire, the monopolization of land by magnates was a key feature of the economy.During the late Roman Republic, wealth inequality skyrocketed. Rich landowners began buying up all the land in Italy that had formerly been owned by independent farmers, making massive megaplantations that were worked by slaves. Poor farmers were now unable to find work, and so they flooded into the cities while their former land was hoarded by a select few.This problem was slowly alleviated primarily through two processes. The first was land redistribution, through which some independent farmers were able to prosper and raise families. The other, far more common approach (driven by the decline of the Roman slave market) was for these poor, free laborers to make agreements with the official owners of these large landholdings, usually referred to as villas. The agreements stipulated that the farmer would work the land for the owner in exchange for lodgings and an allotment of either land for themselves or a portion of the produce, creating a new class of tenant farmers.Wait, this sounds familiar…Yes, you’re right. The state of affairs in which a bunch of rich and powerful nobles and knights controlled most of the land in feudal Europe had its origins in the Roman latifundia system. When we hear “latifundia,” we usually think of the big industrialized operations oriented toward cash crop production and run by slaves, but we forget that in conjunction to this, there was always a place for the free laborers to sign agreements and become tenant farmers. The supply of Roman slaves had decreased after prisoners of war stopped being brought in from conquest, so the owners of the large latifundia and villas were forced to make use of free labor.When the political system of the Roman Empire finally came crashing down, the protection of the Roman military disappeared. Without the assistance of the central government, local magnates, landowners, and officials were forced to do what they could to defend their holdings. Most of the old Roman villas and cash crop latifundia were destroyed, but the people were still there, and so were their systems of tenant farming. The orientation towards commercialized farming, which had only been facilitated by the security blanket of the Roman authorities, shifted to a more general survival approach.Without a central government to provide regulation and authority, the world became a lot more violent. Many of the local elites who had been powerful within the institutions of Rome now shifted their approach toward defending themselves and looking out for their own interests. They built military forces, made alliances, and became independent warlords. Those lords still needed economic productivity on their lands, and they found that labor not through the slave, but through the peasant tenant farmer. Rather than working for profit or to have a job like he was before, however, the peasant was now working in exchange for the protection of the lord.When the Roman government was destroyed, the security that the Roman world had provided was removed. Every peasant, every soldier, every landowner, every town and city would have to look out for him/her/itself. The best way to do this, of course, was through the system of tenant farming and social-political-economic contracts that had already been well-established as a developing trend for centuries. The tenant farming agreements of the mid-to-late Roman Empire allowed for a seamless transition into feudalism once the authority of Rome was broken.You might also be interested to know that the economic decline that went hand in hand with feudalism was well underway in the Roman world centuries before the final fall.We can travel back to the Third Century when a generational crisis was gripping the entire Roman world. Coinage was horribly debased to pay the army, resulting in many areas abandoning currency and reverting to bartering, a trend that would reappear in the waning days of the Empire. The Emperor and his army were unable to defend all areas of the Empire at once, forcing many local nobles to take the defense of their towns, cities, and estates into their own hands.These were the beginnings of manorialism, the first time that localized units had to try operating independently of a central authority that seemed to be inexorably failing.Order was, of course, restored by a series of Emperors from Illyria, but the trends hadn’t disappeared. The great reformer Diocletian recognized just how bad things had gotten, and his taxes were not to be paid in currency, but in whatever goods and materials the person could provide. He also encouraged children to stay in the same trade and profession their parents had worked in, planting the seeds of the famous guild system.Perhaps his biggest blunder was his attempt to regulate prices with his Edict on Maximum Prices. It was a complete failure for the reasons previously stated: there was no way that a pre-industrial state could possibly enforce regulation like that over such diverse and disparate realms. He also tried to curtail the effects of trends like inflation and coinage debasement, with only limited success. I suppose it just proves that even such a visionary emperor could only do so much with the limited tools and time available to a man in the 3rd century.Diocletian had only delayed the onset of Rome’s fatal poisons. All of these trends would resurface in the late 4th and 5th centuries, mostly in the West. This time, however, the Western Empire was more militarily and economically weak than ever, and the sheer volume of tribes attempting to migrate was too much. The rickety structure of the Roman world finally collapsed.The volume and scale of trade fell massively. Currency fell completely out of use in many areas. De-urbanization was seen in many large cities as people moved to the countryside. Any semblance of central authority was lost as hundreds of different barbarian chiefs and kings claimed different tracts of land, and no one was there to stop them. Desperate peasants made agreements of perpetual servitude to the larger landlords, who were beginning to become warlords out of a necessity to defend their lands.Hopefully I have done this topic justice. I have explained that the change from the Roman economy to feudalism was a slow process, I have given a brief overview of the characteristics of feudalism, I have established a strong chronological link between the characteristics of Roman systems and those of feudalism, and I have shown that Rome was largely helpless to stop the overarching trends that drove its demise.Feudalism changed Europe forever. The development of several, highly concentrated centers of power that grew out of the contracts of feudalism meant that no one power would ever be powerful enough to unify the continent.Rome was the first state to unify the Mediterranean, and it would also be also the last.Ruins of the Roman Forum, the physical remnants of an empire that, like all things, lost its battle with Time.