Harvard economist Jason Furman, who previously served in the Obama Administration, criticized Vice President Kamala Harris’ proposal for fixed pricing on grocery chains and their suppliers, labeling it “not sensible policy” and expressing concerns about potential negative consequences.
Harris unveiled this plan to combat what the Biden-Harris Administration calls “corporate price gouging,” which they blame for rising inflation—a top concern among voters.
“This is not sensible policy, and I think the biggest hope is that it ends up being a lot of rhetoric and no reality,” Furman said. “There’s no upside here, and there is some downside.”
“There’s a big difference between fair pricing in competitive markets and excessive prices unrelated to the costs of doing business,” the Harris campaign stated. “Americans can see that difference in their grocery bills.”
Under her proposal, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and state attorneys general would impose penalties on companies deemed to have excessively high prices.
Furman’s dissent is echoed by other left-leaning voices, including Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell, who described the plan as a disastrous government-enforced price control system that would disrupt traditional supply and demand dynamics.
“It’s hard to exaggerate how bad this policy is,” Rampell wrote. “It is, in all but name, a sweeping set of government-enforced price controls across every industry, not only food. Supply and demand would no longer determine prices or profit levels. Far-off Washington bureaucrats would. The FTC would be able to tell, say, a Kroger in Ohio the acceptable price it can charge for milk.”
