We often hear that Byzantines had better economical system than their neighbours and that it was the reason why it lasted so long among other things. What did byzantines do better than their neighbours and just how much better was their system compared to that of the western Europe? Did average byzantine peasant live better than a peasant from elsewhere? And how much was trade responsible for their revenue?
This depends on the historical moment to which you refer, obviously in the High Middle Ages they controlled important regions of the Eastern Mediterranean, in addition to preserving the imperial structures. This gave Byzantium a great advantage over its western neighbors, which were generally only local powers with serious internal problems derived mainly from the succession systems such as the Visigoths.
It should also be borne in mind that after the Justinian government and the loss of eastern regions in the Muslim advance, they dealt severe blows to the Byzantine economy with governments increasingly indebted, mainly due to the expense of the failed renovatio imperii.
The peasantry in general had poor conditions as in the rest of Europe, especially due to the themata system that generated a kind of feudalism but with Byzantine features.