Amid affordability crisis, Stanford economist argues for 'temporary, targeted price controls'

Price controls are literally a textbook example of a policy that creates market inefficiency, but an economist sees some merit in them as voters delivered victories to Democrats who promised to hold the line on the cost of living.

Zohran Mamdani, who vowed to freeze rent, won the race for New York mayor, and Mikie Sherrill, who proposed freezing electricity rates, was elected to be New Jersey’s next governor.

Given the affordability crisis many Americans face, more Democrats will run on price controls too, wrote Stanford economist Neale Mahoney and former White House economic advisor Bharat Ramamurti in a New York Times op-ed on Sunday.

“This may terrify many economists, who have long dismissed price controls as failed policy. But, like it or not, voters are demanding short-term pri