Emeritus Prof Christopher May20h ago

Economists will tell you that price caps stop markets working properly... which is all very well, but when we can see that market society is not working well for the majority of the population, some focussed policy of price caps looks increasingly politically expedient (not least of all as there are all sorts of examples of prices caps not causing the economic sky to fall in).

Markets can be modified, have been modified and should be!

#economics #PriceControls

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/27/governments-controlling-prices-inevitable-mexico-spain-cost-of-living

Governments controlling prices? It has long been unthinkable – but may now be inevitable

In Mexico and Spain, leaders who have capped public costs have been rewarded at the ballot box. As another cost of living surge arrives, it may be a policy our leaders are unable to resist, says Guardian columnist Andy Beckett

The Guardian
Show threadCodewizard

@ChrisMayLA6 let's come down to the fundamental question......

What is a market ??🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

Mar 28 at 10:23amWeb
Show threadEmeritus Prof Christopher May18h ago

@codewizard

Ha ha, used to do a whole hour long lecture on that in my economics for non-economists course.... not an easy Q. to answer

Show threadCodewizard16h ago

@ChrisMayLA6 economics is a word that literally bleeds the human being. I belong to a country plundered by the British.

But my question is more fundamental : whatever lecture you've given on the market in the past, do those theories hold true today ???🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

It was an MNC that had come to lndia, and then eventually settled down to rule.

Show threadEmeritus Prof Christopher May14h ago

@codewizard

Well, perhaps the key thing is that markets precede capitalism but have always needed to be organised through political/social power of one sort or another.... theories of markets hold true to the extent that they are grounded in how markets are actually structured not how they appear to be structured in the economists mythical modelled world.

As to MNCs & their role in India, markets may have been invoked but the real issue (as always) was/is political power.

Show threadCodewizard14h ago

@ChrisMayLA6 from what you say, l understand that markets have been structured by (invisible) "political powers".

And the US aggression of lran is one such force at work !!

If we could be friends, and you took care of my needs and l took care of yours, don't you think the world would have been a better place ??🤓🤓🤓🤓

Then Pentagon wouldn't have required to send bomber aircrafts and aircraft carriers to lran, and there wouldn't have been this sudden crisis in cooking fuels ??😤😤😤😤😤

Who knows what exactly is happening ??🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵

The public is just being spoonfed stories 🤧🤧🤧🤧🤧🤧🤧

Show threadCodewizard14h ago

@ChrisMayLA6 would you like to insinuate that non-economists absolutely have no clue about the market ??🤔🤔🤔

There are plenty of people in my country who can't even write their own name.

But it doesn't really matter today whether you're literate or illiterate. Your face would be recorded as your signature.

And the funniest thing is that people are gobbling up all this nonsense by the administration with a huge amount of zeal.