What you’re not hearing about Kamala Harris imposing price controls to reduce inflation

Harris announced Friday she would seek authority to ban price-gouging in groceries. Her campaign faces public anger about grocery affordability, with prices cumulatively up 26.3% since before the pandemic. But grocery prices are now only rising at a 1.1% annual rate. There is no definition of price-gouging, so a ban amounts to price controls. Price controls are a fundamental risk to economic functioning, and even Harris’s allies on the left are rebelling against the idea. Nixon imposed price controls in 1971, and they seemed to work at first, reducing inflation to exactly where it is today. When they were removed, inflation soared to new highs. At the same time in 1971 Nixon imposed a 10% tariff on imports, exactly what Trump is proposing. Both candidates have both bad and good economic proposals, and we remain uncommitted as to which package is best on balance.