Price legislation means

Step 1: Analyze the question The question asks for the meaning of "price legislation." Break the term into two parts:

• Price is the amount of money paid for a good or service.
• Legislation means laws made by the government.

So price legislation is about government laws that affect prices.

Step 2: Explain the concept Price legislation (also called price control) is when the government makes a law that sets or limits the price of goods and services. It overrides the free play of market forces. There are two main types:

• Price ceiling (maximum price): the highest price a seller may legally charge. It protects consumers, e.g. controlled prices of petrol or essential drugs.
• Price floor (minimum price): the lowest price a seller may legally charge. It protects producers, e.g. guaranteed minimum prices for farm produce.

Step 3: Evaluate the options

• A. Directing market specialists to fix prices: Wrong. It is not market specialists who fix the price. The government does it through law.
• B. Interplay of either demand or supply: Wrong. This describes how market forces work, not legislation.
• C. Producers are price givers: Wrong. This has no link to law, and the usual phrase is "price makers" or "price takers".
• D. Regulating the price system by the government: Correct. This matches the definition: government intervention by law in how prices are determined.
• E. The use of market forces: Wrong. This is the opposite of price legislation, because market forces mean no government interference.

Step 4: Answer The correct option is D, regulating the price system by the government.

Exam tip: When you see "legislation", "control", or "regulation" in an economics question, think government. If an option mentions "market forces" or "demand and supply interplay", it usually describes the free market, which is the opposite of price legislation.