When the government moved by the complaints and campaign contributions of the ice-cream Eaters imposes a price ceiling on the market for ice cream two outcomes are possible. In the government imposes a price ceiling of $4 per cone. In this case because the price that balances supply and demand is below the ceiling the price ceiling is not binding. Market forces naturally move the economy to the equilibrium and the price ceiling has no effect on the price or the quantity sold. More interesting possibility. In this case the government imposes a price ceiling of $2 per cone. Because the equilibrium price of $3 is above the price ceiling the ceiling is a binding constraint on the market. The forces of supply and demand tend to move the price toward the equilibrium price but when the market price hits the ceiling it can rise no further. Thus the market price equals the price ceiling. At this price the quantity of ice cream demanded exceeds the quantity supplied. There ...