The 50-Year Legacy of George Shultz: The Public Entrepreneur who Terminated Wage-Price Controls

Abstract

April 30, 2024, marked fifty years since the end of the Nixon Administration’s Economic Stabilization Program (1971–74), the last full U.S. wage-price control regime. George Shultz helped launch, manage, and end the program, highlighting its life cycle: initial dependence on government agencies, later reliance on private-sector information, and eventual political pressure for removal. Cooperation collapsed as mandates conflicted, triggering institutional “creative destruction.” As an executive entrepreneur, Shultz and the Cost-of-Living Council advanced supply-side policies that challenged agencies, exposed inflationary practices, and enabled the ESP’s termination—offering a key case for Public Choice and agency-life-cycle theories.