Economics as a cause of political ideas

Economics Political Theory
1

I was wondering to what extent a person’s “right” or “left”-ness is affected by economic policy.

Maximum price controls for instance should make the p.-controlled good more available to those that need them less, while minimum prices would have the reciprocal effect.

So I ask, If price controls on say, water cause the people who least need it to buy it, and the people who least need it are middle-class or upper-class, then shouldn’t socialism be more popular with them than with the poor? If so are the poor more libertarian than the middle class? Also, if the minimum prices are set then only the people who really need the thing will get it, so say a high price is set on labor, then wouldn’t labor intensive industries benefit most? From my research not really but why shouldn’t they like it from a consumer-theory standpoint?

2

In short, they don’t understand the economics. If disaster follows from those policies, people can always blame it on something else, e.g. ‘market failure’.

3

Price controls hurt everyone. If there are price controls on water there won’t be enough water produced and those that can afford it will have to pay more than it’s really worth. In this case everyone loses (the poor who can’t afford it and the rich who are overpaying for it).