The ultimate effect was an end to the Cold War. The leader of Russia at the time Gorbachev enacting These social and economic policies resulted in the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, and many civilian protest in eastern bloc countries.
People tried to escape the realities of the Great Depression by attending the movie theater and listening to the radio.
This law is a protectionist polity: a policy that is in a way the opposite of fair trade and limits trade and other services across the borders.
It implies the focus of the empire as a whole was moving away from the Western half. The West was poor and stretched to thin to face the germanic hordes. Rome had been sacked multiple times and just never returned to what it once was. This time of weakness for the Western half of the empire provided the opportunity for the eastern half to become prominent and the cultural and political center for the Roman people. The fact that Justinian was the last emperor to speak latin showed how a complete shift had taken place in Roman society. Suddenly Greek became the language of choice and Byzantium became the most important part of the empire. In short it illustrates the fall of the west and rise of the east.
