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Previous article FreeBack CoverPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreWhip Inflation Then (WIT)Like the Ford administration’s Whip Inflation Now (WIN) campaign, the Roman Emperor Diocletian first attempted moral suasion to keep inflation in check.“The Emperor himself, in the preamble to the Edict, ascribes the rise of prices entirely to the greed of the merchants, many of whom seem by his description to be similar to the modern profiteers, for they hoped that the weather would not favor good crops and they tried to control the seed-supply. He had long hoped, he says, that prices would presently settle down to their natural level, without any governmental interference, but since this hope had proved futile, he must interfere for the welfare of his subjects.”When moral suasion did not work, he promulgated an edict that set maximum prices and wages for hundreds of commodities and occupations which imposed the death penalty for violators. It still did not work, as prices remained above these allowable maximum prices.[Roland G. Kent, “The Edict of Diocletian Fixing Maximum Prices,” University of Pennsylvania Law Review and American Law Register, Vol. 69, No. 1 (November 1920), p. 37].(Suggested by Michael R. Ward) Previous article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Journal of Political Economy Volume 130, Number 6June 2022 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/720996 Views: 460Total views on this site © 2022 The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.