The good news is that economics offers some proven ways to enrich consumers’ lives. They are primarily concerned with allowing competition and allowing supply to increase. Trump did some of that while president. As vice president, Harris has shown no signs of moving in that direction. But many of the policies proposed by both parties would do the opposite.
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One way to appear to be lowering consumer costs, but actually increasing them, is through price controls. When governments keep prices below free market prices, shortages occur. Therefore, people end up wasting their precious time queuing up to get the missing items. When the 1979 oil and gasoline price regulations kept gasoline prices at 80 cents per gallon, energy economists at the newly created Department of Energy predicted that ending the regulations would bring the price to about $1.00 per gallon. I assumed that it would be. At the time, I estimated that the time cost of obtaining gasoline was about 40 cents per gallon, using the average wage of workers and the average time spent in line. Therefore, the real cost to consumers was about $1.20 per gallon, 20 cents above the free market price.
The above quote is from David R. Henderson.How to lower costs for consumers,” definition of ideaOctober 4, 2024.
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