I’m sorry but your analyses and comparison of Eastern and Western Empires is incorrect. The centralization and high taxes were not the root causes of the fall, they were the problems of the 200s century not the 300s.
Centralization and high taxes were not root causes. The collapse of morality was. I never said that. They were certainly significant. Actually, decentralization was a becoming a significant problem in the 300s after Constantine. You wrote that you believe that morals were improving in the fourth and fifth century. What evidence do you have have for this?
I’ll be reading this. I like the Cato Institute for starters, but the first couple of sentences caught my attention.
It’s one thing I alluded to above with regard to State Socialism in the Roman Empire. It as certainly a factor and seems to belie what you’re saying when you say centralization and taxation wasn’t a problem in the 300s. The Reforms of Diocletian for example, attempting to stop inflation not only by freezing prices, but occupations as well:
http://www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cjv14n2-7.html