How does that line of thinking work with something like baby formula? If I have a hungry baby now, what good does it do me if I have to wait two weeks because I'm priced out of baby formula today?
In emergency situations we pretty much already know what peoples needs generally are. We don't need price as a market mechanism to know people need access to food water etc.
Additionally, price gouging is sending artificial pricing signals. The rise in price is not the result of organic demand but people taking advantage of a short term supply constraint, so if I'm a manufacturer/distributor I can't react to this rise in prices the same way I would in a normally functioning economy. I may not even be able to.
In emergency situations we pretty much already know what peoples needs generally are. We don't need price as a market mechanism to know people need access to food water etc.
Additionally, price gouging is sending artificial pricing signals. The rise in price is not the result of organic demand but people taking advantage of a short term supply constraint, so if I'm a manufacturer/distributor I can't react to this rise in prices the same way I would in a normally functioning economy. I may not even be able to.