Economics 101: Price controls lead to violence, even on airplanes

A beautiful thing about the free market, as the late economist Milton Friedman observed, is that every transaction within it occurs only because it is mutually beneficial.

Peter buys Paul's sandwich only because each man decides he is better off doing the deal than not. If it happens, it is because Peter wants the sandwich more than he wants to keep his $5, and Paul wants the $5 more than he wants to keep the sandwich.

Take away the freedom to buy and sell at prices to which people consent, and you have introduced a system in which coercion and violence reign, in which transactions are forced that are not to everyone's benefit.

This is the issue at the heart of the notorious incident this week in which officers of the Chicago Department of Aviation dragged a United Airlines passenger screaming (but not kicking) off his flight to Kentucky.

The facts are sure to be fleshed out in court, as they should be. But the gist is that United had a full flight and needed two seats for employees, probably lest a plane full of people in Kentucky be delayed for lack of a flight crew. But no passengers wanted to exchange their seat for an $800 travel voucher. So the crew chose two passengers for removal from the plane at random, presuming that they would be happy enough with the compensation that airlines are required to offer in such situations.