"A price ceiling set below the free-market price has several effects. Suppliers find they can't charge what they had been. As a result, some suppliers drop out of the market. This reduces supply. Meanwhile, consumers find they can now buy the product for less, so quantity demanded increases. These two actions cause quantity demanded to exceed quantity supplied, which causes a shortage"
Price ceilings are monumentally stupid. Unfortunately, the government rarely seems to be run by people who have much of an economic education.
I still take issue with the argument and I had trouble finding the citation for this statement or the graphs.
Under the price ceiling there is excess demand relative to the supply. This is a no brainer. But excess demand is not the same thing as an increase in demand. If there is an increase in demand why is the demand curve not shifted to the right? The curve stays in the same place.
The quantity demanded is a point on the demand curve. Yes, the demand curve remains in the same place. However, the point at which it intersects the price ceiling is at a lower price and higher quantity than the natural equilibrium. If you're forced to sell something at a lower price, then there will be more people willing to buy it.
I'm talking about the actual quantity being demanded. You're talking about a demand function. They are two different things. I'm talking about a number like 1,500. You're talking about something like a coefficient changing in Q = a - bP.
A demand curve shift does result in a change in quantity demanded. However, there are other things that can result in changes in quantity demanded as well (such as a price ceiling or technological progress resulting in lower prices).
You already agreed that a price ceiling leads to excess demand. That means demand > supply. Yet, the supply curve did not shift either. Again, this is because demand is a point on the demand curve. You're confusing a graph of demand at each price with demand itself.
"A price ceiling set below the free-market price has several effects. Suppliers find they can't charge what they had been. As a result, some suppliers drop out of the market. This reduces supply. Meanwhile, consumers find they can now buy the product for less, so quantity demanded increases. These two actions cause quantity demanded to exceed quantity supplied, which causes a shortage"
Price ceilings are monumentally stupid. Unfortunately, the government rarely seems to be run by people who have much of an economic education.