Some overlooked costs of price controls (Extract From “Flaws & Ceillings …”)

In addition to the direct and observable effects of price controls– shortages and surpluses –
there is also a series of subsequent,

indirect costs which emerge. Perhaps the best source for understanding
these overlooked costs is to look to those who were
directly involved in designing and implementing past controls.
One such individual, G. Jackson Grayson Jr, served as the
chairman of the Price Commission in the United States under
President Nixon from 1971 to 1973. In this role Grayson was responsible
for overseeing the implementation and enforcement
of Nixon’s price controls. After leaving his post, Grayson (1974)
wrote: ‘[a]s a result of my sixteen months as price controller, I
can list seven ways that controls interfere (negatively) with the
market system and hasten its metamorphosis into a centralized
economy’ (page 10). Grayson’s list can be paraphrased and
summarised as follows.