There have been many accusations of price gouging due to the COVID-19 pandemic. What is price gouging, and why does it happen? In this episode of POLICYbrief, Shruti Rajagopalan explains the reasons that price gouging is likely to happen and how the free market can regulate itself to correct the problem with minimal government intervention.

Learn more about Shruti Rajagopalan
https://www.mercatus.org/scholars/shruti-rajagopalan

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As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker.

 

Related Links

Price Gouging and the Pandemic: An Economic Perspective
https://www.natlawreview.com/article/price-gouging-and-pandemic-economic-perspective

Price Gouging Law for the COVID-19 Pandemic are Problematic
https://fortune.com/2020/08/04/price-gouging-laws-covid-coronavirus/

Price Gouging
https://youtu.be/HFXYO1W_JXw

How “Price Gouging” Helps Consumers During the Coronavirus Pandemic
https://reason.com/video/how-price-gouging-helps-consumers-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic/

Differing Views

Prime Gouging:  How Amazon Raised Prices to Profit from the Pandemic
https://www.citizen.org/article/prime-gouging/

Pandemics, Profits and Price Gouging
https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2020/05/pandemics-profits-and-price-gouging/

What Constitutes Price Gouging?
https://www.marketplace.org/2020/08/13/price-gouging-covid-19-pandemic-emergency-new-york-hillandale-farms/