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Givewell.org. Welcome to Rationally Speaking, the podcast where we explore the borderlands between reason and nonsense.

I'm your host, Julia Galeff, and today's episode features two conversations I had with two

different economists, Raymond Niles and Amihae Glazer.

And what I'm trying to do with these interviews is investigate an issue that's bugged me for years. So basically, every time

there's an emergency, like a hurricane or a pandemic, for example, there are some goods that are

suddenly in high demand, like water bottles or hand sanitizer or toilet paper. And the prices of those goods skyrocket and people get angry and call it price gouging.

And then some economists write op-eds explaining that actually, quote-unquote, price gouging, is good.

Letting prices rise during an emergency is good because if we don't let prices rise, then we're

just going to have shortages of these essential goods.

And, you know, the people who need the most won't be able to get them.

Okay, so I more or less agree with these op-eds, but there are a few things that have always bugged me about this argument.

A few hesitations I have about the economic logic.

So, for example, these op-eds are generally written as if it's best for everyone if we let prices rise.

And that seems pretty true for middle class or upper class people, but it's less obviously

...