Editing Price controls (section)

===Postwar===

[[Incomes policy|Wage controls]] have been tried in many countries to reduce [[inflation]], seldom with success. Since inflation can be caused by both [[aggregate supply]] or [[Aggregate demand|demand]], wage controls can fail as a result of [[supply shock]]s or excessive [[Stimulus (economics)|stimulus]] during times of high [[Government debt|sovereign debt]] (increases to the Monetary Aggregate System M2).   

====United Kingdom====

The [[National Board for Prices and Incomes]] was created by the government of [[Harold Wilson]] in 1965 in an attempt to solve the problem of inflation in the British economy by managing wages and prices. The [[Prices and Incomes Act 1966]] c. 33 affected UK labour law, regarding wage levels and price policies. It allowed the government to begin a process to scrutinise rising levels of wages (then around 8% per year) by initiating reports and inquiries and ultimately giving orders for a standstill. The objective was to control inflation. It proved unpopular after the 1960s.

====United States====
[[File:Domestic Price Control - NARA - 195924.jpg|thumb|200px|A World War II-era shop display promoting price controls.]]
In the United States, price controls have been enacted several times. The first time price controls were enacted nationally was in 1906 as a part of the [[Hepburn Act]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ruddy |first=Daniel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=44McCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT92 |title=Theodore the Great: Conservative Crusader |date=2016-08-29 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-62157-441-5 |oclc=966553031}}</ref>{{pn|date=September 2023}} In World War I the [[War Industries Board]] was established to set priorities, fix prices, and standardize products to support the war efforts of the United States. During the 1930s, the [[National Industrial Recovery Act]] (NIRA) created the [[National Recovery Administration]], that set prices and created codes of "fair practices". In May 1935, the Supreme Court held that the mandatory codes section of NIRA were unconstitutional, in the court case of ''[[Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States]]''.

During World War II, the [[Office of Price Administration]] handled price controls.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Currency |first1=United States Congress House Committee on Banking and |title=1946 Extension of the Emergency Price Control and Stabilization Acts of 1942, as Amended: Hearings Before the Committee on Banking and Currency, House of Representatives, Seventy-ninth Congress, Second Session, on H.R. 5270, a Bill to Amend the Emergency Price Control Act of 1942, as Amended, and the Stabilization Act of 1942, as Amended, and for Other Purposes ... |date=1946 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |page=799 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/1946_Extension_of_the_Emergency_Price_Co/IR4rRG3GatMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22Office%20of%20Price%20Administration%22%20%22price%20controls%22%20created |language=en}}</ref> During the Korean War, the [[Economic Stabilization Agency]] instituted price controls.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Affairs |first1=Harry S. Truman Library Institute for National and International |title=Economics and the Truman Administration |date=1981 |publisher=Regents Press of Kansas |isbn=978-0-7006-0217-9 |page=29 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Economics_and_the_Truman_Administration/JgMuAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Economic+Stabilization+Agency%22+price+controls&pg=PA29&printsec=frontcover |language=en}}</ref> In 1971, President [[Richard Nixon]] issued Executive Order 11615 (pursuant to the [[Economic Stabilization Act of 1970]]), imposing a [[Nixon shock|90-day freeze on wages and prices]]. The constitutionality of this action was challenged and upheld in the case of ''[[Amalgamated Meat Cutters v. Connally]]''.<ref>{{cite court |litigants=Amalgamated Meat Cutters v. [[John Connally|Connally]] |vol= 337|reporter= F. Supp.|opinion=737 |pinpoint= |court=D.D.C. |date=1971 |url= https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/337/737/1469915/}}{{Cite web |url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/337/737/1469915/ |title=Amalgamated Meat Cutters & Butcher Work. V. Connally, 337 F. Supp. 737 (D.D.C. 1971) |access-date=2023-09-04 |archive-date=2023-09-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230904154505/https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/337/737/1469915/ |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref><!-- what was the outcome? -->

The individual states have sometimes chosen to implement their own control policies. In the 1860s, several midwestern states of the United States, namely Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois, enacted a series of laws called the [[Granger Laws]], primarily to regulate rising fare prices of railroad and grain elevator companies. The state of [[Hawaii]] briefly introduced a cap on the wholesale price of [[gasoline]] (the [[Gas Cap Law]]) in an effort to fight "[[price gouging]]" in that state in 2005. Because it was widely seen as too soft and ineffective, it was repealed shortly thereafter.{{CN|date=May 2024}}

====Venezuela====

According to Girish Gupta from ''[[The Guardian]]'', price controls have created a [[Shortages in Venezuela|scarcity of basic goods]] and made [[black market]]s flourish under President [[Nicolás Maduro]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/apr/16/venezuela-economy-black-market-milk-and-toilet-paper|title=Price controls and scarcity force Venezuelans to turn to the black market for milk and toilet paper|date=16 April 2015|website=The Guardian|author=Girish Gupta}}</ref>

====India====

In India, the government first enacted price controls in 2013 for the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO). This order gave the local regulatory body and the Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority the power to set ceiling prices on the National List of Essential medicines.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ihsmarkit.com/country-industry-forecasting.html|title=Indian government releases DPCO 2013, expanding price controls to 652 drugs|website=ihsmarkit.com|access-date=2020-04-12}}</ref>

====Sri Lanka====

In Sri Lanka, the Consumer Affairs Authority has the power to set the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) for goods specified by the government as essential commodities.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pricing and Management Division |url=http://www.caa.gov.lk/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=122&Itemid=749 |access-date=2023-07-08 |website=www.caa.gov.lk}}</ref> In 2021 the Sri Lankan government enacted price controls on several essential items resulting in shortages.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/8/31/sri-lanka-food-prices-emergency-forex-crisis|title=Sri Lanka declares food emergency as forex crisis worsens|website=Al Jazeera|access-date=2022-02-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/8/sri-lanka-allows-sharp-rise-in-food-prices-to-ease-shortages|title=Sri Lanka allows sharp rise in food prices to ease shortages|website=Al Jazeera|access-date=2022-02-17}}</ref>