North Carolina's Idiotic "Price Gouging Law" Increases the Pain

When anything becomes more scarce, the price MUST GO UP. Additionally, if something suddenly becomes more useful, the price will also go up. The price going up is a GOOD thing, and this is what people need to understand. Threatening businesses with fines for selling something we need is not going to magically make more of that thing appear in the state... quite the opposite.

Many states have "price gouging" laws.  In North Carolina the law basically has two provisions:

1) The Governor or President has to declare that some sort of "triggering event" has occurred.
2) Then you can't charge a price that "unreasonably excessive". What that means is left unclear.   However, you can be fined $5,000 for each violation, which probably means for each sale made to a customer.

Our esteemed governor of North Carolina declared a triggering event has occurred due to the Colonial Pipeline leak that was discovered on September 9th, 2016. Because this pipeline supplies almost all of the gasoline to the area, gasoline is much more scarce, and the price should go up for two good reasons:

1) Existing gasoline should become more expensive in order to encourage conservation-- people will treat this more precious commodity as more precious, and try to use less where they can.

2) When the price is higher, there is an incentive for people to find other ways to transport this good into the affected areas.  At a high enough price, it will be worthwhile to ship gasoline by truck or train into North Carolina, to help alleviate the fact that there is little gasoline to be found.

In economic terminology, the Price Gouging Laws basically put a price ceiling on the price of gasoline, keeping the price from going up. Gas prices have risen a little bit, but no gas station can know at what point they will be put out of business for charging a price that is "unreasonably excessive", and fined thousands of dollars.

So, the result is predictable, just as when Nixon did it back in 1971.  When you don't allow the price to increase, people don't conserve, and people don't find ways to being in additional supplies.  These laws only make a bad situation worse. So, gas stations are just shutting off the pumps, and people are driving around for many miles hunting for gasoline (which again, is wasting gas, not to mention time).  Which raises the question: 

"Which would you rather have: no gasoline at a low price, or as much gasoline as you would like at a higher price?"

According to this news report:

WFMY News 2's Meghann Mollerus met several drivers Monday morning who said they weren't as concerned about the price as they were about finding gas at all. "I just wanted some gas. It didn’t matter how much it was going to be. I had to get gas," said Chad Levens, who commutes 35 minutes...

I think this answers the question for us.  However, these same news reports are all practically begging people to report any prices that they think are "unfair" to the State Attorney General.

I highly recommend the following 5 minute video for people who aren't convinced about how bad these laws are: Is price Gouging Immoral? Should it Be Illegal?


Below is my brief overview of the three common cases where people scream "Gouging!", and  my thoughts, reiterating some of the above notions, and covering two additional cases.
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"Gouging" to ordinary folks seems to mean "they raised the price, and that is unfair". There are three common cases I can think of where gouging occurs:

1) There is a sudden reduction in supply, which can mean an increase in costs or reduction in availability (in this case, pipeline goes down). There is less gas. What should we do? If we gold the price down we won't have more gas, what we do have will be wasted, and we will quickly run out. If we allow prices to rise, people will conserve, people who need it desperately (ambulances, fire trucks, people going to work) will be able to purchase it. And, there is an incentive for people to bring more in using trucks, etc.

2) There is a sudden increase in the need for something- for example, normally I don't need a generator, but after a hurricane I want one more and am willing to pay more. But, so does everyone, and there are only so many generators around. If we hold the price down, people who get there first will get the hotel rooms/generators. If we allow the price to rise, people who desperately need them (e.g. your son needs one to power some medical device) will be able to find one, people who have an extra might be willing to sell one, and people will be willing to drive 500 miles to buy some and truck them in. The same can be said for ice, bottled water, etc. The choice is between having shortages at the normal price, and having more and used more wisely at a higher price.

In the above two cases, allowing the price to rise actually helps things work more smoothly. Some price gouging laws give businesses a defense in the first case, but never in the second.  In both cases, keeping the price low helps a few random people that can find the scarce good at the low price, but at the expense of people who might have a greater need, and at the expense of actually getting more of the product brought in.

3) The third case is one where I have more sympathy with people, since raising prices doesn't clearly have any immediate effect of conserving or encouraging people to supply more. This is the recent case of drug manufacturers such as Epi Pen (increased from $100 to over $600) or Daraprim (went from $13.50 to $750). While I DO support drug manufacturers' right to price high for new drugs (because there is a lot of expense and risk with developing and selling them), Epi Pens should be generic now, save for a stupid trick the FDA allows drug makers to use to extend patent life (though there IS a generic version, click here for more info), and Daraprim is generic, but there is only one plant approved by the FDA to make it.


In this Case 3, I would rather we go after the FDA than the businesses, though yes, they disgust me. However, "disgusting me", in my opinion, is not a reason to put someone in jail or put them out of business. It is the FDA's rules that allow the patent to continue in the first case, and prevent other companies from producing the drug in the second. If the Daraprim case is one where having a monopoly makes sense (due to efficiencies of scale), then economists would argue that this is a case of a natural monopoly that should be regulated (similar to how electric utilities are regulated).

End of Semester Grading Issues: Let Core Values Lead the Way

May... that time of year when Spring has definitely sprung, you really have to get get moving on that end of semester paperwork, and the time when students start coming out of the woodwork to beg for mercy, ask for gifts, and demand satisfaction.

This blog post is in response to the many requests I hear from faculty, young and old alike, to get some help on how to handle all of these end of semester inquiries from students. They generally come in three flavors:

A) Students who have missed assignments or tests during the semester wanting you to let them make them up now.
B) Students who "need an A" or "need a C", and need to know "if there is anything I can do to get a few more points", or even better, "I need to know what you are going to do about it".
C) The most pernicious kind are students who like to nit-pick every grade throughout the semester, trying to get a couple of points here and there on every assignment.

While there is no perfect solution to these problems, first and foremost I recommend that faculty sit down by themselves and clarify their own values when it comes to teaching, grading, and education in general. Firm stances and decisions become much easier when you clearly understand your own principles. This translates into other parts of the teaching and research enterprise as well, such as being treated with respect in the classroom, dealing with academic dishonesty, publication ethics, and evaluation of your peers.  "What is wrong with eating in the classroom?" Don't make up an answer; either there is a real problem, or there isn't, and you should know instantly based on your own values.

Let me share some of my principles that ground my decisions.  Of course, your principles can and should be different based on your institution, personality, and values!

1) Learning: Anything that could possibly get in the way of learning, or could serve as an excuse for not learning, cannot be tolerated.
2) Fairness: All students must be held to the same standards of work, grading, opportunity, timeliness, and of learning the information. Lying or cheating in any form must be stamped out. Others' requests/demands also need to be fair to me.
3) Responsibility: Part of the education process is encouraging and measuring the ability of students to show up, follow instructions, and meet deadlines.  Never harm your students by allowing them to get away with something that would get them fired in the "real world".
4) Difficulty: Students are here to be encouraged, but also challenged: Making students uncomfortable is part of a teacher's duty.  Faculty should (as best they can) provide the tools that students need in order to succeed; it is the responsibility of students to pick the tools up and use them.
5) Who I am: I am a highly-trained professional who cares about what I do, knows what I am doing, but will readily admit to my mistakes. 

These principles are part of my core values-- therefore, making decisions that are consistent with them is not only easy, but necessary.  What are some things that directly follow from these principles related to grading?

A) No, I cannot let you turn in those assignments late; that is not fair to the other students who did them on time. The purpose of doing the assignments when they were due was to help you learn the information before the tests. There is no reason for you to do those assignments now, and several reasons why I should not accept them now. In addition to being unfair, turning the assignments in on time (responsibility) is a purposeful part of the grading process.

B) No, I cannot give you a chance for extra credit or give you "a couple of points". Your need of a certain grade is not a part of the grading process. The grading process is the same for all students- think of how unfair it would be if I gave someone else points.

C) Regarding students who constantly like to question every grade on every question: When I get these, I require that the student write down all of queries/requests for re-grading. I will never engage one of these students in an endless fishing expedition. I also make it clear from the outset that if a student wants an assignment re-graded, that there are strict time limits for bringing it to my attention, and that the entire assignment will be reevaluated, and the grade may go up or down. How can I justify this?  Responsibility and Fairness! All of the other students were graded by me, alone, while evaluating the entire assignment-- not piecemeal, while being hounded, with additional explanations being given, e.g. "See here, you can tell what I really meant, right?" And, nit-picking your yearly evaluation from your superior in the real world is not going to go well for them.

I could certainly go on, but I think you get the point. I must stress that your values, and thus your responses to these situations can, and should be different. But, allowing your core principles to guide your decisions is far superior to making things up as you go along.  Additionally, you are not making these decisions "Because you don't care", quite the opposite: You are making these decisions because you care deeply about what you are doing.  Perhaps letting students in on some of your principles will head off some future problems.