You don't seem to be responding to my comment. High prices cannot necessarily increase supply when the timeframe is strictly limited. This is a reality that a lot of people seem to not accept. So the effect of price is just to determine the distribution of a limited supply. That significantly reduces the utility of a market pricing system. Directing production is a fundamental reason why markets are useful in normal times, and in the very short term of a crisis, it's not applicable.

That stock in unaffected areas is allocated to the affected crisis area seems like an incredible benefit though. Seems to me that this is an example illustrates the opposite actually. Human demand might be infinite but supply is always limited

Also, high prices sends information to producers that riskily ramping up or shifting production can be worth it. Might not be worth it at a lower price point.

Imagine if, in January before Covid-19 had spread outside China, I brought up all the stocks of N95 masks at US DIY retailers and sold them to hospitals in China.

Heartwarming international solidarity and the power of the market in action? Or capitalists selling the rope that will hang them?

High prices encourage people like me who have more than enough to get off their asses and share the excess.

There is already plenty of TP in existence in the country for everyone, it’s just poorly distributed because the gov has removed the incentive for the TP-haves to distribute it better towards the TP-have-nots.

Or, more to the point of the article, there is no incentive for someone with a useless side project to give up their Azure instance to someone delivering food or medicine.

But it was the high price of the stuff that made the people who require "incentives" grab it. It's circular, like a stock market bubble. First people panic and buy, then other people buy because the price is going up, it's absurd to say that price represents some fundamental truth.

When I went to the grocery store a week ago, there were a lot of things, just not toilet paper. If the laws against price gouging are causing a problem, why is it so selective?

Microsoft seems to be doing the same, sensible, thing that grocery stores are doing in some cases - try to ration stuff per customer.

People are talking about how this dynamic is playing out on a bigger scale, as states compete for resources in the absence of the federal government coordinating.

> High prices encourage people like me who have more than enough to get off their asses and share the excess.

> the gov has removed the incentive for the TP-haves to distribute it better towards the TP-have-nots.

Really?

> I have an entire Costco package of toilet paper that will last me months while some poor bastard near me is probably wiping his ass with his hand (or worse...

This is not a reason to you? Some people might not appreciate the tone of this but, you’re seriously lacking morals if it’s not.

I forgot, on HN you’re supposed to be an emotionless robot (like half these people are in real life), talking about morals is illegal.

Wouldn't you be within the law if you simply sold the rolls at your own cost, or even your cost plus 10%, rather than trying to turn a large profit from them?

You could give them to your friend(s) if you have any.

Or try freecycle.

It's not difficult once you realize that if you actually care about waste, then you don't have to profit.

This is absolutely true, of course. I should probably have added "or you can just, you know, give somebody a roll or two of toilet paper." :)

I plan to risk technically violating the "shelter at home" guidelines to bring a 6-ounce bottle of hand sanitizer to a friend in a different city next weekend, assuming my order actually arrives. (It's a little crazy that the stuff is virtually currency at this point.)

I might be within the law (although in some places like BC all reselling is straight up illegal) but some busybody would still call the cops on me and online listings would be taken down by the likes of amazon or ebay.

As long as you have soap, you can wash your hands afterwards. Not my preferred method, but there's quite some cultures where they do it this way.