Price controls are an excellent way to quickly damage the economy in very visible ways, which makes it politically dangerous. Price controls don't happen in a vacuum and they tend to have adverse consequences.

The US healthcare system, as an example, was a direct unintended consequence of US government price controls. That was 80 years ago and the affects are still with us.

If you'd (somehow) lock the price for housing, there's less incentive for new housing to be built. If you put price controls on food there's a chance certain foods may become unprofitable to produce, leading to food shortages.

Price controls lead to shortages and subsidies lead to price increases. It's usually best just to leave stuff alone and let the market take care of it.

But does the market not also focus on profit and continuous expansion/consolidation? Clearly based on things like drug prices, egg prices, etc… profit is a “driving” factor, not “will this product sell.”