One of the Ten Principles of Economics discussed in is that markets are usually a good way to organize economic. This principle explains why economists usually oppose price ceilings and price floors. To economists prices are not the outcome of some haphazard process. Prices they contend are the result of the millions of business and consumer decisions that lie behind the the supply and demand curves. Prices have the crucial of balancing supply and demand and thereby coordinating economic activity. When policymakers set prices by legal decree they obscure the signals that normally guide the allocation of society’s resources. Another one of the Ten Principles of Economics is that government can sometimes improve market outcomes. Indeed policymakers are led to control prices because they view the market’s outcome as unfair. Price controls are often aimed at helping the poor. For instance rent-control laws try to make housing affordable for everyone and minimum-wage ...