Michael Munger on Price Gouging

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4.7 • 4.3K Ratings

🗓️ 8 January 2007

⏱️ 60 minutes

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Summary

Mike Munger of Duke University recounts the harrowing (and fascinating) experience of being in the path of a hurricane and the economic forces that were set in motion as a result. One of the most important is the import of urgent supplies when thousands of people are without electricity. Should prices be allowed to rise freely or should the government restrict prices? Listen in as Munger and EconTalk host Russ Roberts discuss the human side of economics after a catastrophe.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:12.7	I'm your host Russ Roberts of George Mason University and Stanford University's Hoover
0:17.4	Institution.
0:18.8	Our website is econtalk.org where you can subscribe, find other episodes, comment on this podcast,
0:26.0	and find links to other information related to today's conversation.
0:30.1	Our email address is mailaddycontalk.org.
0:33.7	We'd love to hear from you.
0:35.7	My guest today is Mike Munger, Professor of Economics and Political Science at Duke University
0:39.9	and a frequent contributor to the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:43.3	Mike, welcome back to Econ Talk.
0:45.1	It's great to be back.
0:46.8	Now Mike, in 1996, well over 10 years ago, a major hurricane hit North Carolina, as it
0:55.1	sometimes does, it was Hurricane Fran, and you were there, you were on the spot, and experienced
1:01.0	a great lesson in the economics of everyday life.
1:05.6	Tell us what happened when that hurricane came through.
1:08.1	Russ, I had grown up in Florida and I was kind of used to hurricanes, but when I lived
1:13.0	in Florida, all the first part of my life, we lived way out in the country.
1:18.1	When Hurricane Fran came through, I lived in Raleigh, the state capital.
1:21.9	It's not a large city, but it's a fair-sized city, and so being in an urban situation
1:27.8	without power and the sort of things that hurricanes do was a new experience for me.
1:33.4	Hurricane Fran had been predicted that it was going to go a little bit east of us, and
1:37.9	hurricanes in England, North Carolina, where maybe 120 miles inland, normally all you're
	...

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