Paul Krugman on price controls (reference)

[bemildred]

7. The forms in which I approve of price controls are where you have

collusion, monopoly, or restraint of trade. So for public utilities, giant corporations, and companies that refuse to compete on price, I think it is appropriate.

The Gas Comapny here in Californai, for example, is regulated and price controlled out the wazoo, and yet it is cheap and works great (the occasionaly explosion notwithstanding, that doesn't seem to have to do with price controls so much as laziness and incompetence, as in West, Texas).

That said, once you go there, you have to get involved and regulate all the way, and you better know what you are doing. For example breaking up overlarge businesses, or preventing them in the first place, is much better than attempting to regulate them closely or fix prices, half-ass measures just make it worse.

And in war.