Asian Price Controls - 0 views
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Abhinav S on 03 Nov 10The article discusses price controls (ceiling prices) as a remedy for rising inflation in certain Asian economies (all above 4 %). The ceiling price was employed on food prices that were the main cause for rising inflation. The price controls were an alternative to raising interest rates which would raise the value of the local currencies by attracting foreign capital. The article discusses the feasibility of price controls as short term vs long term solutions. It states that price controls reduce incentives and efficiency in the long run by not rewarding producers appropriately. Nevertheless, they are effective in this particular case since the rise in price of food (pork rose 60 %) was mainly attributed to supply irregularities. If the price rises were caused through excessive demand, then price controls would perhaps not be as beneficial in the short run since the likelihood of a black market developing/smuggling would be much higher.