# capitalism could have started in the Roman Empire

This is an idea I’ve heard crop up a few times, so I’ll write a little note about it. I’ve heard C. Derek Varn and others mention that [[capitalism]] could have started in the Roman Empire. Much of the same conditions that were present in ~14th century England were also present in the late Roman Empire, supposedly. Instead, for unclear reasons, the Roman Empire developed into [[feudalism]] instead.