If you are compassionate and want to make sure your friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens can still have access to necessities during a crisis, don't impose a good-sounding government policy that ignores basic economics. It'll make things worse, not better.
In 2005, Dr. Karen Palasek wrote a Free Market Minute column about how "price gouging, a term that has no economic meaning, is actually helpful in averting a gas crisis."
I'm reminded of what happened to carpenters, tree-removal firms, generator retailers, and others in North Carolina after Hurricane Fran, as then–Attorney General Mike Easley took to the airwaves repeatedly warning about price gouging.
I bought a new gas can and used it. The EPA "fixed" the spout to make it "spill-proof" and more environmentally friendly. That is why the things spill more than ever and are prone to explode.
If you were looking for a quick summary of public-choice economics, you could just consult Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross' comments on Pres. Trump's tariffs.
