Price gouging during COVID-19: The flip side of competition law

In our first installment and podcast, we discussed antitrust enforcement in the COVID-19 era. Now, we’d like to discuss price gouging, which in many ways is the polar opposite of antitrust law. Antitrust laws are based, at least partly, on the principle that fair and open competition allows resources to be allocated most efficiently. It further assumes that fair and open competition allows goods and services to be priced efficiently, by the forces of supply and demand. Price gouging laws, on the other hand, seek to limit price increases even when those prices are being determined by fair and open competition and by the forces of supply and demand. While price gouging and other consumer protection laws certainly protect the public from the effects of hoarding and other predatory behavior during public emergencies, they also capture price increases that are a result of sharply increased demand or supply shortages that are not occasioned by any malfeasance.

Read the full post on our blog, Antitrust Law Source.