They also arguably make people hoard less. If you can't resell for a large profit, there's no point in buying more than what you feel hedges your risk. So you'll buy 200 masks instead of 20 000.

Disposable PPE is also funny in a way that it makes no sense to buy it unless you buy in bulk. If you can get 200 N95 masks for $20, it's OK. If you can buy 2 masks for $20, then you'd better spend $1000 or don't buy at all. A lot of people buying few masks each just wastes a whole supply of masks that could all go to one place (e.g. a hospital) where they would make a difference because there would be enough of them to be used properly.

> They also arguably make people hoard less.

There's no need to theorize or argue, the historical evidence is that price fixing (anti-gouging) leads to shortages (or gluts).

https://www.amazon.com/Forty-Centuries-Wage-Price-Controls-e...

Fear of gouging causes (some, whether sensible or not) people to hoard at the first sign of trouble.

The 1970s gas lines stopped immediately after Reagan, as his first act as President, signed an Executive Order eliminating oil & gas price controls.

Literally overnight. And they never returned since.