Governments usually set up a price floor in order to ensure that the market price of a commodity does not fall below a level that would threaten the financial existence of producers of the commodity.
Economic impact of price floor.
Price floors are also used often in agriculture to try to protect farmers.
A price floor is an established lower boundary on the price of a commodity in the market.
This is usually done to protect buyers and suppliers or manage scarce resources during difficult economic times.
It may help farmers or the few workers that get to work for minimum wage but it does not always help everyone else.
However price floor has some adverse effects on the market.
Effects of a price floor.
When the price is above the equilibrium the quantity supplied will be greater than the quantity demanded and there will be a surplus.
The most common price floor is the minimum wage the minimum price that can be payed for labor.
Price floors are used by the government to prevent prices from being too low.
Price floors and price ceilings are government imposed minimums and maximums on the price of certain goods or services.
How does quantity demanded react to artificial constraints on price.
Perhaps the best known example of a price floor is the minimum wage which is based on the normative view that someone working full time ought to be able to afford a basic standard of living.
A price ceiling is the legal maximum price for a good or service while a price floor is the legal minimum price.
But if price floor is set above market equilibrium price immediate supply surplus can.
In the end even with good intentions a price floor can hurt society more than it helps.
If price floor is less than market equilibrium price then it has no impact on the economy.
A price floor is the lowest legal price that can be paid in markets for goods and services labor or financial capital.
Implementing a price floor.
If the market was efficient prior to the introduction of a price floor price floors can cause a deadweight.
When society or the government feels that the price of a commodity is too low policymakers impose a price floor establishing a minimum price above the market equilibrium.
National and local governments sometimes implement price controls legal minimum or maximum prices for specific goods or services to attempt managing the economy by direct intervention price controls can be price ceilings or price floors.