Raising of prices to an unreasonably high level after a demand or supply shock
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1904 cartoon warning attendees of the St. Louis World's Fair of hotel room price gouging
Price gouging is the practice of increasing the prices of goods, services, or commodities to a level much higher than is considered reasonable or fair. Usually, this event occurs after a demand or supply shock. This commonly applies to price increases of basic necessities after natural disasters. The term can also be used to refer to profits obtained by practices inconsistent with a competitive free market, or to windfall profits. In some jurisdictions of the United States during civil emergencies, price gouging is a specific crime. Price gouging is considered by some to be exploitative and unethical and by others to be a simple result of supply and demand.
Price gouging is similar to profiteering but can be distinguished by being short-term and localized and by being restricted to essentials such as food, clothing, shelter, medicine, and equipment needed to preserve life and property. In jurisdictions where there is no such crime, the term may still be used to pressure firms to refrain from such behavior. The term is used directly in laws and regulations in the United States and Canada,[1] but legislation exists internationally with similar regulatory purpose under existing competition laws.
The term is not in widespread use in mainstream economic theory, but it is sometimes used to refer to practices of a coercive monopoly that raises prices above the market rate that would otherwise prevail in a competitive environment.[2] Alternatively, it may refer to suppliers' benefiting to excess from a short-term change in the demand curve.
Price gouging became highly prevalent in news media in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, when state price gouging regulations went into effect due to the national emergency. The rise in public discourse was associated with increased shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
^"Provinces promised crackdown on pandemic price gouging. In fact, there have been few repercussions | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
^"Lawrence Kudlow". Jewishworldreview.com. June 14, 2000. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
Pricegouging is the practice of increasing the prices of goods, services, or commodities to a level much higher than is considered reasonable or fair...
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corporations from pricegouging or otherwise setting prices that create negative outcomes for the government's society. While price ceilings are often...
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wholesale price of gasoline (the Gas Cap Law) in an effort to fight "pricegouging" in that state in 2005. Because it was widely seen as too soft and ineffective...
May 2007, Peterson was the lone Democrat to vote against the Federal PriceGouging Prevention Act. In April 2009, Peterson voted against the Matthew Shepard...
term extortion is often used metaphorically to refer to usury or to price-gouging, though neither is legally considered extortion. It is also often used...
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one of several slang terms used by Enron traders to refer to their pricegouging methods. During investigations into the 2004 Enron scandal over manipulation...
monopoly over the routes. Waxman accused Sargeant and his company of pricegouging and "engaging in the worst form of war profiteering." A longtime major...
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