Price Controls and Communism
-
0:10 - 0:14- We conclude our discussion of price
controls by talking about price controls -
0:14 - 0:18and communism or planned economy. This
will be brief because the idea is pretty -
0:18 - 0:22simple. We've already looked at all the
effects of price controls in different -
0:22 - 0:28markets. But we can think about communism
as being in some ways a system of -
0:28 - 0:33universal price control. Everything is
controlled by the government. The price of -
0:34 - 0:38all goods is controlled by the government.
So, if a single price control can have bad -
0:38 - 0:48effects, what happens when you control the
prices of all goods? Let's take a look. -
0:48 - 0:51Let's just remind ourselves of some of the
important effects of price controls both -
0:51 - 0:55ceilings and floors, shortages and
surpluses depending upon whether we have -
0:55 - 1:00the price below the market price or the
floor above the market price. Reductions -
1:00 - 1:05in product quality or sometimes too much
quality, too much waste. Wasteful lines -
1:05 - 1:11and other search costs. Loss in gains from
trade and misallocation of resources. -
1:11 - 1:16Now, communism, a command economy can be
thought of as a system of universal price -
1:16 - 1:23controls, price controls on all goods. And
we saw exactly these five elements -
1:23 - 1:28occurring in countries which had universal
price controls, such as the Soviet Union. -
1:29 - 1:33It was common for some goods to be in
shortage while other goods had surpluses. -
1:33 - 1:37Low-quality goods for most, with wasteful
quality for other, -
1:37 - 1:39wasteful lines and other search costs.
-
1:40 - 1:46During the Soviet Union Communist period,
it was common for women to spend, on -
1:47 - 1:54average, two hours of every single day,
weekdays, and weekends, just lining up to -
1:54 - 1:59get consumer goods. Clear loss of gains
from trade and a misallocation of -
1:59 - 2:02resources. So it was very common
in the Soviet Union -
2:02 - 2:06to spend lots of
resources producing agricultural products, -
2:07 - 2:11and then not have the trucks to bring
those products to market. -
2:11 - 2:16It was common to be producing radios, have
everything you need to produce the radio -
2:16 - 2:20except for one single part, which was in
shortage. So you could not produce the -
2:21 - 2:24radios. Remember the
situation we described for -
2:24 - 2:27heating oil in the United
States during the 1970s. -
2:28 - 2:32When in some parts of the country there
was plenty of heating oil. There was -
2:32 - 2:37enough heating oil so that people were
heating their swimming pools. While in -
2:37 - 2:40other parts of the country there wasn't
enough and people were shivering in their -
2:40 - 2:47homes. Those types of misallocation of
resources were the norm, were normal, were -
2:47 - 2:53everyday occurrences in the Soviet Union
during its system of communism, or a -
2:53 - 2:56command economy,
or universal price controls. -
2:57 - 3:05All of these issues came to affect an
entire economy. In short, what communism -
3:05 - 3:12did really was a substitution of planned
chaos, a chaotic economic system, instead -
3:12 - 3:17of having market coordination. Okay,
thanks very much. -
3:17 - 3:21That will conclude our
lectures on price controls. -
3:23 - 3:25If you want to test yourself, click
Practice Questions -
3:26 - 3:30or if you're ready to move on,
just click Next Video.
- Title:
- Price Controls and Communism
- Description:
-
What happens when the prices of all goods are controlled? Under communism, or a command economy, this is exactly what occurs. As a result, all of the effects of price controls become amplified: there are even more shortages or surpluses of goods, lower product quality, longer lines and more search costs, more losses in gains from trade, and more misallocation of resources. As we have seen, universal price controls destroy market coordination and create a system of planned chaos in which it becomes more difficult for consumers to get the goods and services they want and need.
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- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- Marginal Revolution University
- Project:
- Micro
- Duration:
- 03:35
Theresa Ranft edited English subtitles for Price Controls and Communism | ||
Theresa Ranft edited English subtitles for Price Controls and Communism | ||
Theresa Ranft edited English subtitles for Price Controls and Communism | ||
Theresa Ranft edited English subtitles for Price Controls and Communism | ||
Theresa Ranft edited English subtitles for Price Controls and Communism | ||
Theresa Ranft edited English subtitles for Price Controls and Communism | ||
MRU2 edited English subtitles for Price Controls and Communism | ||
MRU2 edited English subtitles for Price Controls and Communism |