Price controls — an attempt to deal with Venezuela's runaway hyperinflation — seem to have been an especially harmful policy. Pegging the prices of daily necessities at low levels led to shortages — everyone rushed out to buy the cheap stuff, leaving store shelves bare. The government then responded with the typical but misguided strategy of punishing those it deemed hoarders, which required the police to go around arresting anyone who seemed to have too much of a commodity. Unfortunately, since no one knows how much is too much, least of all the police, this generally leads to people being arrested for owning necessary amounts of things like food and toilet paper. This was especially hard on businesses, which were stuck in the middle. Everyone starts living in fear of the police, business can't be done and the economy breaks down.