Will Banning Price Gouging Help the Economy?

Vice President Kamala Harris announced a policy proposing a federal ban on corporate "price gouging." Is it a good idea?

Common Ground: Outlets from the left, center, and right talked to economists about the idea and found that few supported it. While the New York Times (Lean Left bias) interviewed one economist who supports the policy, and one opposed, Fox Business (Lean Right bias) only quoted an economist opposed to the policy. Deseret News (Center bias) cited that 67% of economists disagreed or strongly disagreed that "higher inflation in the U.S. was due to corporations raising prices to increase their profit margins."

From the Left: Outlets on the left seem split on the issue. A writer for The Grio (Lean Left) argued that high grocery prices have disproportionately affected black households, and that going after corporate greed would help the black community. However, a Washington Post (Lean Left) writer argued it was bad policy: "At best, this would lead to shortages, black markets and hoarding, among other distortions seen previous times countries tried to limit price growth by fiat...At worst, it might accidentally raise prices."

From the Right: "This is a rhetorical ploy...It’s the Biden-Harris administration trying to pin the blame for inflation on someone other than them, that there’s some sort of conspiracy between food producers and grocery stores to cheat Americans out of more of their money and this isn’t the result of their own inflationary policies and deficit spending,” said Sarah Bedford from the Washington Examiner (Lean Right).