NPR.

This is the Indicated From Planet Money.

I'm Paddy Hirsch.

And I'm Adrian Ma.

Lithuania announced over the weekend it will no longer buy natural gas from Russia.

Up until now it had been buying about a quarter of its gas from a company called Gazprom.

But now it's the first European Union country to say it's quitting Russian gas.

Nye Orlaizer on Germany, which is a long way from energy independence from Russia.

Half of Germany's 40 million households use natural gas for heating.

And 40% of that natural gas comes from Russia, which means that if the flow of natural gas

from Russia stops as a result of the war in Ukraine, then Germany is in trouble.

All of this has the German government thinking of a contingency plan.

Specifically, rationing.

When a government or an organization allows people to have only a fixed amount of a commodity.

On today's show, we look at high rationing happens, why it happens, and what the unforeseen

consequences can be.

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