In a move described by Dresdner Kleinwort as "even more predictable than
the price surge that triggered it", Russia has decided to impose
price controls on elected types of bread, cheese, milk, eggs and vegetable
oil; the fourth word of the FT article is "Soviet-style". But in fact
price controls are not solely the domain of autocratic regimes: Argentina, which
had its a vibrant
election yesterday, has been imposing them for some time.
Economists hate
price controls, and for good reason: not only do they not work in theory, they
also don’t work in practice.
But it does seem as though the global commodities boom, especially in the agricultural
sector, must shoulder most of the blame for this latest spate of price controls.
They never really went away: there was just no need for them during the Great
Moderation.