Price Fixing In Ancient Rome

One of the real joys of getting into ancient coins is the fact that they can be used in a really tangible way to learn of the history of ancient Greece and Rome (not to mention any number of other ancient cultures). I vaguely remember a quote something along the lines of any question that mankind has ever asked, any challenge that has been faced or any aspiration that man has had can be seen in the history of ancient Greece and Rome.

So I was fascinated this morning to receive an email from the Ludwig Von Mises Institute (which, as you know, is dedicated to "Advancing the Scholarship of Liberty in the tradition of the Austrian School"), which discussed the way in which prices in the economy of ancient Rome were controlled by a range of emperors. Not only is this article of interest for the fact it has references to coinage littered right through it, but it is also topical in the current economic climate, primarily because price control in the ancient world was variously either achieved or lost through changes in the supply of money - arguably the cause of this current economic situation the world is in.

If you have even a remote interest in ancient coins or the current economic situation, you'll want to read the whole article - whether you agree with the premise of it or not is another matter altogether!