Government Intervention in Market Prices: Price Floors and Price Ceilings

Read this section to learn why the government sometimes chooses to control prices. Attempt the "Try It" problem. Take a moment to read through the stated learning outcomes for this chapter of the text, which you can find at the beginning of each section.

Try It

A minimum wage law is another example of a price floor. Draw demand and supply curves for unskilled labor. The horizontal axis will show the quantity of unskilled labor per period and the vertical axis will show the hourly wage rate for unskilled workers, which is the price of unskilled labor. Show and explain the effect of a minimum wage that is above the equilibrium wage.