The imposition of price controls, and their popularity in 1971 likely laid the groundwork for the policies adopted during the oil crises and policymakers’ resistance to taxes. While firms and labor unions tended to oppose price (and wage) controls, they appeared to be popular among consumers (and even some academic economists).
7 A Harris poll in early 1972 found that respondents, by a 53 to 23 margin, believed Nixon’s price controls were doing “more good than harm.”
8 In fact, the description of the poll results point to concerns among respondents that Nixon was being too flexible on prices.
The time series of approval ratings for Nixon’s economic policies also points to the popularity of his price control policies.
Table 1 shows a time series of a Harris poll asking: “Do you feel the economic policies of the Nixon administration are doing more good than harm or more harm than good?” Nixon’s approval rating jumped up right when price controls were adopted and hovered near 50%, while tending to hover around 30% prior to the controls.
this isnt my fight. drag-on
didnt pan out