OPINION: Gavin Wax - The Crackdown on ‘Price Gouging’ Helps No One, Except Politicians and the Media

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 Sunday, June 28, 2020 - 12:43
OPINION: Gavin Wax - The Crackdown on ‘Price Gouging’ Helps No One, Except Politicians and the Media

"Price gouging” is a gimmick used by politicians and the media to rally supporters and viewers. It’s almost never about predatory business practices and it’s always the people who end up paying the cost of price control laws.

Governments can’t alter the laws of economics any easier than they can the laws of physics. Yet, they seemingly never cease trying, either under some private or public pressure to skew economic outcomes.

Particularly in vogue these days is outrage over “price gouging.” In this way, the political and media response to COVID-19 is the same as it always is during hurricanes or other natural disasters.

Read more at Fee Daily. 

 

Wax is an associate fellow at the London Center for Policy Research, and publisher of The Schpiel.