Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Lee, Dwight R.

Titel

Making the Case against "Price Gouging" Laws: A Challenge and an Opportunity

Ist Teil von

• The independent review (Oakland, Calif.), 2015-04, Vol.19 (4), p.583-598

Ort / Verlag

Oakland: The Independent Institute

Erscheinungsjahr

2015

Quelle

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Few examples exist of greater disagreement between the public and economists than the one over laws outlawing "price gouging." The general public's view is clearly reflected in the almost complete lack of political support for allowing prices to be determined by market forces after a natural disaster. This paper begins by discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the instinctive small-group morality and how markets have reduced some of the disadvantages by expanding the number of people with whom one can productively interact. The next section explains why natural disaster victims cannot get all the help they need unless the help motivated by the instinctive morality is supplemented and enhanced with the information and motivation provided by unrestricted market prices as well as why, despite this enhancement, people still fail to appreciate the benefits those prices provide. The author addresses the concern that the poor are harmed by "price gouging."