Performance Measurement and Management During the Roman Empire: Evidence From the Letters of Pliny the Younger to Emperor Trajan

Abstract

This article examines performance measurement and management practices of the Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Trajan (98–117 CE). The main thesis is that the administration of imperial provinces possessed some of the underlying concepts of modern public performance measurement and management practices developed more recently as part of the New Public Management movement. The article uses the 121 letters in the correspondence between Pliny the Younger as Imperial Governor ( Legatus Augusti) of the Province of Bithynia and Pontus (110–113 CE) in modern day Turkey and Emperor Trajan to demonstrate that performance measurement and management practices is more ancient than its development as part of the New Public Management movement.