(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4473497&forum_id=2#39772589)

even economists agree. they teach this in economics 101 in the very first lesson. otherwise they would be discussing the price of 12 year old prostitutes in terms of demand and supply curves in your economics class.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4473497&forum_id=2#39772807)

What moral principle? Ignorance? Rage? Envy?

You'd think intentionally subjecting people to harm by depriving them of needed goods and services would be the real immoral act.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4473497&forum_id=2#39776060)

Nobody wants to touch this specific issues with a ten foot pole though thanks to Twitter mobs.

A decent explanation: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreydorfman/2016/09/23/price-gouging-laws-are-good-politics-but-bad-economics/#65fd52564d35

So maybe you're a single mom caring for her elderly parents who desperately needs some hand sanitizer and are willing to pay $50 for a bottle. Without "price gouging", demand for sanitizer is met based on dumb happenstance of timing / local store having some. Whereas under price gouging the single mom would be able to offer a higher price as an approximate signal of how important her demand for sanitizer is. There's also tons of excess supply of hand sanitizer sitting around - I have a few large bottles just in my closet from work or something, but obviously at $5 each I'm not going on ebay and selling my excess hand sanitizer to help adjust the demand/supply imbalance, were for $40? if i had some extra laying around I might sell on ebay, set up a garage sale / find whatever local market.

The moral argument here comes down to whether "price / income privilege" is somehow more abhorrent than timing / geographical setting privilege (i.e. dumb luck for finding sanitizer stock in a store in your area). Also in the long-term, the price signal redirects production in the economy towards hand sanitizer if bottles keep selling for $50 each (which they wouldn't), so it's useful in that sense also, whereas the producers of hand sanitizer / retail may not even make that great of margin on hand sanitizer with price controls, so they have much less incentive to rev up production to meet this oh so important demand this guy is denying people.

The counter-argument I would guess is that during short-term emergencies these really aren't complete markets and not enough time to adjust when eg someone needs water during a hurricane......

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4473497&forum_id=2#39776221)

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/15/technology/matt-colvin-hand-sanitizer-donation.html?action=click&module=moreIn&pgtype=Article&region=Footer

Many of those people also contacted Mr. Colvin directly with hate mail and death threats, while one man even banged on the door at his home late Saturday night, according to Mr. Colvin and several messages he shared with The Times.

In an hourlong interview on Sunday, Mr. Colvin expressed remorse for his actions and said that when he decided to hoard the sanitizer and wipes, he didn’t realize the gravity of the coronavirus outbreak or the severe shortage of sanitizer and wipes.

“I’ve been buying and selling things for 10 years now. There’s been hot product after hot product. But the thing is, there’s always another one on the shelf,” he said. “When we did this trip, I had no idea that these stores wouldn’t be able to get replenished.”

He said the outpouring of hate has been scary for him and his family. He said people have incessantly called his cellphone, posted his address online and sent pizzas to his home. His inbox was flooded with ugly messages, he said. One email he shared with The Times said: “Your behavior is probably going to end up with someone killing you and your wife and your children.”

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4473497&forum_id=2#39776308)

edit: i see above that maybe it's like Cohen

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4473497&forum_id=2#39776370)

You.Poast

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4473497&forum_id=2#39776442)