For Crisis Prices and Against Anti-Price Gouging Statutes

Finestone and Kingston (2022) argue that global persistent crises reveal both a new justification for price gouging as well as the need for the creation and regulation of a new category of goods—reserved goods. While I accept the new justification for price gouging, I raise concerns over the creation and regulation of a new category of goods. In particular, I argue that there are conceptual problems with the current distinction of goods – luxury versus essential – so often used in the price gouging literature. Further, I argue that these problems plague the new category of goods as well.