Trey Weikel
Professor Baugus
Microeconomics
25 Sept 2021
Price Gouging
Many people claim that price gouging is a morality issue and that consumers are being taken advantage of in times of need. However, others argue that price gouging is an appropriate response that reflects new conditions in our economy. My stance on price gouging is quite simple, but varies based on certain circumstances. In the video that was viewed in class, the man that sells generators raised the price from $800 to $1300. If this change in price was due solely to the fact that his customer’s daughter’s life depended on obtaining a generator, then I believe this instance of price gouging is immoral. However, if the man that sells generators was aware of this situation and raised his prices in response to the increased demand in generators, this is not considered immoral in my eyes. Some people believe that the man selling generators should have given away his generators to the people suffering from the natural disaster. I do not think that he should feel obligated to donate his generators if that is how he earns money. If he decided to give them away, that would go under the category of being extremely generous. Price gouging has been proven to actually promote competition as well as more supply. In conclusion, price gouging is not inherently immoral. However, if there are exclusively bad intentions behind the increasing of prices then price gouging becomes immoral.