Emeritus Prof Christopher May13h 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 threadJimmyB (he/him)

@ChrisMayLA6 it’s weird that so many believe that markets are ever ‘free’. They never are: whoever is able to manipulate the market, always does to their advantage. So the idea that Government is illegitimate in that game is only because sometimes they act in the people’s interests, to the direct discomfort of corporates who want it all their own way.

And yet the prevailing narrative….

11:02amWeb
Show threadEmeritus Prof Christopher May11h ago

@JimmyB

Markets are by their very character subject to & facilitated by law, provided by the state - there is no such thing as a free market, only levels o (and varying intent) of regulation