Editing Price controls (section)

{{Short description|Governmental restrictions on prices}}

[[File:"Prices charged in this store will not exceed those indicated in the most recent list of Fair Prices applicable to this - NARA - 512556.jpg|thumb|World War I poster of the [[United States Food Administration]]]]
[[File:Заводская табличка стиральной машины «Вятка-автомат-16» 1990 г. в.jpg|thumb|400px|A tag on a Soviet washing maсhine, 1990. Due to price controls in the [[USSR]], the retail price (530 [[Soviet ruble|roubles]]) is also indicated on it.]]
'''Price controls''' are restrictions set in place and enforced by governments, on the prices that can be charged for goods and services in a market. The intent behind implementing such controls can stem from the desire to maintain affordability of goods even during shortages, and to slow inflation, or alternatively to ensure a minimum income for providers of certain goods or to try to achieve a [[living wage]]. There are two primary forms of price control: a [[price ceiling]], the maximum price that can be charged; and a [[price floor]], the minimum price that can be charged. A well-known example of a price ceiling is [[Rent regulation|rent control]], which limits the increases that a landlord is permitted by government to charge for rent. A widely used price floor is [[minimum wage]] (wages are the price of labor). Historically, price controls have often been imposed as part of a larger [[incomes policy]] package also employing [[wage]] controls and other regulatory elements.

Although price controls are routinely used by governments, Western economists generally agree that consumer price controls do not accomplish what they intend to in [[Market economy|market economies]], and many economists instead recommend such controls should be avoided;<ref name="concise"/> however, since the [[credibility revolution]] started in the 1990s, minimum wages have found strong support among some economists.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Card |first1=David |last2=Krueger |first2=Alan B. |date=1995 |title=Time-Series Minimum-Wage Studies: A Meta-analysis |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2117925 |journal=The American Economic Review |volume=85 |issue=2 |pages=238–243 |jstor=2117925 |issn=0002-8282}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last1=Chletsos |first1=Michael |last2=Giotis |first2=Georgios P. |date=2015-01-14 |title=The employment effect of minimum wage using 77 international studies since 1992: A meta-analysis |url=https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/61321/ |access-date=2023-06-01 |website=mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=Wolfson |first1=Paul J. |last2=Belman |first2=Dale |date=2015 |title=15 Years of Research on U.S. Employment and the Minimum Wage |url=http://www.ssrn.com/abstract=2705499 |journal=SSRN Electronic Journal |language=en |doi=10.2139/ssrn.2705499 |issn=1556-5068|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Dube |first=Arindrajit |title=Impacts of minimum wages: review of the international evidence |publisher=[[The National Archives (United Kingdom) |The National Archives]] |year=2019 |isbn=9781912809899 |location=London |pages=22–52 |language=en-UK}}</ref>