The Byzantine Empire based its power and longevity on an economy with interesting and often complex structures. Although there have been many studies on various aspects of the Byzantine economy, a synthetic work examining the economy of Byzantium as a whole and providing a comprehensive picture of its structures, organization, and evolution over time has been lacking until now.

This gap is intended to be filled by "Economic History of Byzantium," a collective work that gathers and synthesizes findings from the fields of economic history, numismatics, archaeology, geography/geology, art history, institutions, and law concerning the Byzantine medieval period from the 7th to the 15th century.

The authors of this work examine, among other things, demographic factors, the physical and technological conditions of production, sources of wealth, the structures and organization of production in the agricultural economy and urban economy, the economic role of the state and fiscal phenomena, consumption, investments, and credit mechanisms, prices, modes of exchange, internal and external trade, the production and circulation of coins, institutions of property and transactions, aspects of practical economic law, economic ideology, and the place of the Byzantine economy in the medieval Mediterranean world.

Their analyses challenge the image of an economy with archaic structures, controlled and managed monopolistically by state power, which does not evolve. Instead, they converge on the conclusion that the Byzantine economy exhibited remarkable adaptability at times, and for long periods, the combination of state and private activity functioned effectively, ensuring both economic progress and stability.

The texts included are:

• Gilbert Dagron, "The Urban Economy from the 7th to the 12th Century"
• Klauss-Peter Matschke, "The Economy of Cities During the Late Byzantine Period (13th-15th Century)"
• Charalambos Bouras, "Perspectives of Byzantine Cities from the 8th to the 15th Century"
• Paul Magdalino, "Medieval Constantinople: Built Environment and Urban Development"
• Charalambos Bouras, "Master Builders, Craftsmen, and Construction Activities"
• Anthony Culter, "The Production of Works of Art"
• Nikos Oikonomidis, "Stationery, Documents, Books"
• Veronique Francois, Jean-Michel Spieser, "Ceramics and Glass in Byzantium"
• Christopher Entwistle, "Byzantine Landmarks"
• Clive Foss, Jane Ayer Scott, "Sardis"
• Klaus Rheidt, "The Urban Economy of Pergamon"
• Aspasia Louvi - Kizi, "Thebes"
• Maria Kazanaki - Lappa, "Medieval Athens"
• G.D.R. Sanders, "Corinth"
• Basso Penna, "The Monetary Circulation in Corinth (970-1204)"
• Anne Bortoli, Michel Kazanski, "Chersonesus and Its Region"
• Ivan Jordanov, "Preslav"
• Konstantin Dochev, "Tirnovo"
• Angeliki E. Laiou, "Economic and Non-Economic Exchanges"
• Angeliki E. Laiou, "Exchanges and Trade from the 7th to the 12th Century"
• Klauss-Peter Matschke, "Exchanges, Trade, Markets, and Money (13th-15th Century)"
• John Day, "Trade in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea"
• Cecile Morrisson, Jean-Claude Cheynet, "Prices and Wages in the Byzantine World"
• Charis A. Kaligas, "Monemvasia (7th-15th Century)"
• Doorninck Van Frederick, "Byzantine Shipwrecks"