Inflation, Price Controls, and Economic Controversies

On Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a speech in North Carolina outlining her economic platform, including a federal ban on price gouging, expanded tax credits, and more. The proposal to tackle corporate price gouging has sparked significant pushback from both the establishment wing of the Democratic Party and various factions within the Republican Party. About a year ago, we spoke with economist James Galbraith on the back porch of his Vermont childhood home, where he was raised by John Kenneth Galbraith—one of the 20th century's leading policymakers and thinkers on government regulation of prices. Today, we’re revisiting that conversation, which originally aired on July 7, 2023.

James K. Galbraith is a professor of government and business relations at the University of Texas at Austin. Galbraith has an extensive history of working in government, including as executive director of the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress and an economist for the House Banking Committee. Galbraith joins Ryan Grim to discuss the implementation of price controls by the U.S. government, how it brings down prices, how the Biden administration has used it and could use it more, and how Galbraith’s father — economist and politician John Kenneth Galbraith — was instrumental in setting price controls during World War II.

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