Suppose you’re doing some history research on shoe production in ancient Rome, during the reign of the famous Emperor Diocletian.

Your records tell you how many shoes were produced each year in the Roman Empire, but it doesn’t tell you the price of shoes.

You find a document that says that in the year 301, Emperor Diocletian issued an “edict on prices,” but you don’t know whether he imposed price ceilings or price floors—your Latin is a little rusty. However, you can clearly tell from the documents that the number of shoes actually exchanged in markets fell dramatically, and that both potential shoe sellers and potential shoe buyers were unhappy with the edict. With the information given, can you tell whether Diocletian imposed a ceiling or a floor? If so, which is it? (Yes, there really was an edict of Diocletian, and Wikipedia has excellent coverage of ancient Roman history.) kipo47