The laws of economics are not suspended in an emergency, no matter what the laws of politicians attempt to do. When goods are more scarce, they will be costly to obtain, whether those costs are in terms of money or something else. The importance of letting market prices do their job and determining who gets what is that this process is also the way in which we make sure that there is stuff to be allocated in the first place. The only way to make sure we have sufficient production is to let market prices determine consumption.
-Steve Horowitz (here)
Politicians may BELIEVE that they have or will punish “price gougers” but in the end, it is nothing but virtue-signaling.
(H/T: Cafe Hayek)
