NEW PARADIGM
Isabella Weber in the Big End-of-Year Talk on Price Controls and Gas Price Brakes
BY
FORUM NEW ECONOMYPUBLISHED
22. DECEMBER 2023
There are crises that accelerate change and new ideas. And there are crises that tend to trigger the reflex to rely on the tried and tested. This is also the case when it comes to the economy. What has happened in the past two years – and especially since the outbreak of war in Ukraine – initially seemed to follow the second logic. Inflation has given new impetus to advocates of old austerity, as has the recent budget crisis in Germany. Nevertheless, 2023 also seems to be a year in which crises have also helped to break down old thinking. And this is unlikely to apply to any dispute as much as the one triggered by Isabella Weber’s call for price controls in times of multiple crises – to curb inflation.
Initially, there was mainly protest against the attempt to cast doubt on the basic and complete trust in markets. In the meantime, the ideas developed by the economist have been taken quite seriously internationally. In a video interview with us at the end of the year, Isabella Weber once again explained the deeper analysis behind this – well worth watching.
And definitely highly interesting:
"We have seen historically, from the French Revolution to the Arab Spring, what happens when the prices of essential goods such as basic foodstuffs rise in such a way that people feel they can no longer afford the bare necessities. This then quickly develops into fuel for political upheaval. Then part of the social contract breaks."
You will soon be able to read more on this topic – in a study that Isabella Weber has written with Tom Krebs on when and how price controls should be introduced. Until then, you can see the whole interview here: