Economic Theory

Historically, price caps have only ever led to mass shortages


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In the Media
In the Media

Professor Len Shackleton writes for The Express

Matthew Lesh quoted in the Daily Mail

Matthew Lesh, IEA Head of Public Policy, has been quoted in the Daily Mail on price caps.

Showing how price caps have never benefitted the consumer, the article reads:

“The first known exponent of the McDonnell and Burgon policy was the Emperor Diocletian in AD 301, when he fixed prices for more than 1,000 products, including essential foods. As Matthew Lesh of the Institute of Economic Affairs observed, this was ‘to combat the perennial baddie, the greedy merchant.

“It did not reduce inflation but did result in merchants withdrawing goods from sale. 

“The Ancient Romans at least had the excuse that economic theory had not yet been invented’.”

Read the article here.



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