What three orders did Constantine issues in hopes of aiding the economy?

Answer 1

the son of workers had to follow their fathers trades,the son of farmers had to work the land their fathers worked, and the son of soldiers had to serve in the army
Constantine tried to tackle the problem of hyperinflation by concentrating of a new gold coin (the aureus) and temporarily abandoning the silver coins. To make this new coin viable as the standard of Roman currency, it had to be minted in large quantities.

Constantine issued two new taxes. One was on the estates of the senators, which broke the tradition of senators being usually free of most taxes on their land. The other was a tax on the capital of merchants to be paid in gold. He also required that the rents from the imperial estates, which were rented out to tenants, were to be paid only in gold. He took the gold and silver bullion reserves which his former co-emperor Licinius had extracted by force from the treasuries of the cities. Towards the end of his reign he ordered the confiscation associated with his religious ones, in that increased minting was associated with measures of confiscation of all gold, silver and bronze statues from the treasuries pagan temples, which were declared as imperial property. The gold was smelted to mint more gold coins.

Answer 2

1) Constantine the Great's most important measure which helped the Roman economy and stabilised the empire monetary crisis was not an edict (legislative decree, order). It was the strengthening of a new gold coin, the solidus (which was first issued by his predecessor, Diocletian, but in too small amounts to make an impact). The empire went through an economic crisis which weakened trade and the use of coins as a means of exchange. In some areas of the empire barter replaced the use of money. This was caused by hyperinflation and the debasement of the Roman coins. A number of emperors had decreased the amount of gold and, especially, silver in the gold and silver coins. Eventually, the precious metal content of the coins was so low that it became worthless. In addition to this debasement/devaluation also led to hyperinflation. The greatest collapse was that of the silver coins.

Constantine concentrated of minting the solidus in large quantities to convert it into a viable empire-wide standard currency. To do so he increased production in the gold mines of the empire, tapped into supplies from beyond the eastern frontiers of the empire and confiscated the sizeable treasuries of pagan temples and smelted their gold. This led to the predominance of the gold coins and shrinkage in the issue of silver coins. As inflations persisted, toward the end of his reign, Constantine started issuing new silver coins. In the long run his strategy worked. Over time, after his reign, inflation came under control and the solidus was never debased.

The reliance on the solidus was not problem-free. The solidus became the standard coin and the coin of value at the expense of other metal coins, which were relegated to secondary functions. Taxes were levied in solidi (plural of solidus) to shelter the state from the effects of inflation, the army was paid in solidi, and the solidus became an instrument for estimating the value of debts, which came to be valued in solidi. However, only the state and the rich could afford gold coins. The poor were excluded form this inflation-proof currency. Large quantities of bronze coins were issued for use by the 'populace.' These coins were continuously devalued. An anonymous Roman author wrote that the consequence of this monetary policy was that the gulf between the rich and the poor widened because while the rich benefitted from the stable gold coins, the poor had to cope with ever-degraded and inflation-vulnerable bronze coins.

2) Constantine issued the decree of employment which bound tenant farmers to their landlords in their places of origin. Should a tenant seek to work for a new landlord, the latter had to return him to the original landlord and pay the poll tax for him in the meantime. If a tenant intended to escape from his landlord, he was to be chained and reduced to being a serf. There was a shortage of labour in some areas of the empire and there were areas near the frontiers of the empire where agriculture was devastated by raids by peoples from outside the empire. Therefore, there were peasants who migrated in search of better opportunities. There were also larger landed estates which poached labour from smaller estates. With this edict, Constantine tried to stabilise the agricultural labour force and prevent the depletion of labour in some areas of the empire. His predecessor, Diocletian had already taken similar measures.

3) The decurions were rich men in the cities of the empire and men who provided the member of city council (curiales). Originally, being a curiale conferred prestige and inclusion in the class of honestiones (honourable men). These men were benefactors who used their wealth to fund public works such as temples, baths, statues and other public facilities. They also collected taxes. By the time of Diocletian, tax collection became difficult due to the mentioned economic crisis. Moreover, imperial expenditure had become difficult to finance. The large Roman army had become very expensive. In addition to this, Diocletian had doubled the size of the imperial bureaucracy, which greatly increased imperial expenses. This made the tax burden on the people oppressive. Diocletian turned the decurions into mere tax collectors and ordered that they pay their shortfall in the collection of taxes and tax arrears out of their own pockets. Not surprisingly the decurions tried to escape the cities and their duties as curiales. In response to this, both Diocletian and Constantine issued edicts which forced them to continue to hold their posts as curiales and made the position virtually hereditary. If they were caught escaping, they were returned to their cities like runaway slaves and forced to resume their duties. Constantine issued two such edicts, in 316 and 332. Constantine retained the bureaucratic reforms of Diocletian and the higher expenses it involved. He even increased the tax burden. He tended to appropriate a proportion of the local tax for himself to meet his own expensive needs, such a maintaining a large and elaborate court and the redevelopment of Byzantium to turn it into the new imperial capital as Constantinople. Towards the end of his reign, he confiscated all municipal indirect taxation and taxes were often channelled to fund the construction of lavish Christian churches.