PHIL 322 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Price Gouging
30 Aug 2018
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Document Summary
Price gouging occurs when, in the wake of an emergency, sellers of a certain necessary goods sharply raise their prices beyond the level needed to cover increased costs. Argue that the common moral condemnation of it is largely mistaken. Standard cases of price gouging provide great benefit to those in desperate need. Pg laws apply to periods of emergency, necessary items, and price ceilings. One difficulty with anti-gouging laws is that there is no unproblematic way of defining the practice of price gouging for legal purposes. Lawmakers are thus faced with a dilemma. Ag laws face a dilemma in the way they define the offense. The first concern one might have about price gouging is that it is objectionably coercive. The proposals which gougers make to buyers are genuinely offers and not coercive threats.
