Fall of Roman Empire - Essay Example

They did not have a concept of saving resources and using them in time of need. The first emperor who tried to fix this problem was Diocletian 284-385 A.D. He tried to freeze everything as it was most suitable to preserve the economic situation of the empire. For example slaves could not be free anymore, intermarrying between social classes was severely restricted and social mobility became more restricted (Mathisen, 2006). In 301 Diocletian imposed a ceiling on prices to control the economic crisis but it was impossible to control this big empire.

Also, in the regions where he tried to impose price ceilings, riots and black markets broke out. Diocletian understood that commanding economy do not work in this kind of government. He understood that commanding economy can provide food and things to keep the place stable but it needed more money and due to no productivity, the halt of territorial expansions, and weak frontiers there was no flow of money and the economy was becoming weaker day by day. In early Rome, slaves were a very important part of the labor force, but as the Empire began to collapse slave labor became much harder to control (Temin, 2004).

Diocletian tried to control the slave labor shortage by forbidding workers to leave their jobs, restricting social mobility, and increasing taxes but all of this did not restore economic stability. The empire faced inflation; the currency was no more in gold and silver coins but copper. Some of these coins still exist today. More than 2,000 were found in a concrete lined box in Scotland in 2002 (Kaplan, 2003). Therefore the people refused to be paid in money and they started to trade objects of wealth.

This was the best solution for the people, but this further perpetuated the economic problems by causing structural problems in the empire. The empire was built upon the labor of slaves but they could not benefit from their work (New Internationalist, 2001). Peter