note 2015: With or without these arguments, consider the retailer’s situation before judging them, and also the customer’s point of view. In times of crisis, we tend to naturally want to help others in our community. However, the big impersonal system above us (which we’re too dependent on) can tend to spoil the personal side of things when it tries to do its thing, which might not be in our best interests. The system is not run by a blind, neutral, mystical “free market” that is supposedly trying to serve us or protect us (corporations and government). I wish it was like that.

mises.org, William Anderson, Aug 29 ’05    
How To Create A Shortage (http://mises.org/story/1894)

Yet, the whole program [government of Hawaii holding down the price of gasoline] is based upon a fallacy of economics — one that has haunted economics for centuries — and even though economists have debunked this fallacy for more than 130 years, it still lives on. The fallacy is this: the price of a final (consumer) good is determined by its cost of production…

…the only reason that traders are willing to pay those prices for crude oil is because they believe that individuals are willing to purchase fuels refined from crude at prices that will enable those original purchases to be profitable.

mises.org, David M. Brown, Aug 17 ’04    
Price Gouging Saves Lives (http://www.mises.org/story/1593)

mises.org, Hal Cranmer, Sep 13 ’05    
Go After the [Real] Price Gougers

Like so much of what the government does, there are unintended consequences for messing with the laws of nature. In the case of the price gouging assault, by denying price increases the government actually causes greater scarcity. Prices lower than the market price (especially in an emergency) will cause a run on the good and service. Then people who see the good first are able to buy the good rather than those who need it the most (and are most willing to pay for it).

(Original Post)