Word: babylonian
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Dates: during 1980-1980
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Throughout history, controls have seemed a tempting quick fix for inflation. Nearly 40 centuries ago, the Babylonian King Hammurabi established wage and price limits. They set, for example, the annual wage of a field worker at eight gur (75 bu.) of corn and that of a herdsman at six gur (56.25 bu.). The Roman Emperor Diocletian in A.D. 301 published official price lists that included artichokes and transportation by camel; any gougers were executed. The most recent American experience with general controls was President Nixon's 1971-74 program of freezes, followed by varying degrees of restraint...