National Prices Board
| Commission des prix nationaux | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1958 |
| Preceding agency |
|
| Jurisdiction | Gylias |
| Parent department | Parliament and Cabinet of Gylias |
| Website | http://www.npb.gov.gls/ |
The National Prices Board (French: Commission des prix nationaux), abbreviated NPB (CPN), is an administrative agency which administers price controls in Gylias. It has sole responsibility for setting and adjusting prices throughout the Gylian economy.
History
It was created in 1958, as part of Gylias' transition to Lange model market socialism. It replaced the regional price controls implemented by the Free Territories.
While the system arguably abolished conventional inflation or deflation within the economy, strains during the National Obligation period and wretched decade manifested in a general increase in prices.
Organisation
The NPB is unaffiliated to any federal ministry, and thus reports directly to Parliament and the Cabinet as a whole.
Responsibilities
The NPB fulfils the role of a central planning board according to the Lange model. It sets and adjusts prices based on supply and demand, with the goal of achieving Pareto efficiency. It uses a partial trial-and-error method: for any given good, prices are lowered in the event of a surplus, and raised in the event of a shortage.
Prices are published biweekly and whenever an adjustment takes place, carried by the entire Gylian media and available online on the Board's website.
Impact
As one of the most visible manifestations of economic planning, the NPB has had a significant impact on Gylian society, economy, and economics. The need for detailed information and real-time feedback generated by its price-setting mission formed part of the background for the creation of the Hermes Programme, and subsequently the Gylian computer industry.
The NPB had an important role in the Golden Revolution. By removing the private sector's ability to set prices independently, it helped drive the cooperativisation of the private sector. It helped create the framework in which prices are equal to marginal costs. By emphasising the goal of attaining market clearing prices, it has been credited by several economists with suppressing the profit motive in the Gylian economy.
