It wasn’t long ago that supermarkets stood accused of selling food too cheaply. Their price wars and two-for-the-price-of-one deals were destroying farmers, undermining local shops and making us fat. How long ago that now seems, with the government now considering 1970s-style price controls. While the measures would apparently be voluntary, they would fix the prices of a number of basic foodstuffs – the sort which Jack Monroe keeps her eyes on.
The price of price-fixing is likely to be more pictures of empty shelves, which of course will be blamed on Brexit
You don’t need to have studied economics in any depth to understand the problem with price controls. In a free market, prices settle at the intersection of the supply and demand curves, ensuring that both are kept in balance. Mess around with that by trying to fix prices, and you are liable to end up with Soviet-style shortages and queues.
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