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Supply and demand

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Energy & Environment

No, Gas Prices Didn't Spike Because of 'Corporate Greed'

Corporations were just as greedy when prices fell in 2019 and early 2020.

John Stossel | 5.18.2022 1:15 PM

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Economics

America's Trade and Regulatory Policies Have Contributed to the Baby Formula Shortage

Why do we have tariffs on imported formula in the middle of a shortage?

Eric Boehm | 5.9.2022 3:50 PM

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The Case for Uber Surge Pricing After a Mass Shooting

In criticizing the move, the New York Post got basic economics wrong.

John Stossel | 4.20.2022 12:30 AM

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Inflation

Annual Inflation Hits 8.5 Percent, Highest Rate Since 1981

Plus: China's unsustainable COVID lockdowns, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's performative anti-immigration antics snarl supply chains, and more...

Eric Boehm | 4.12.2022 9:30 AM

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Price controls

California's Terrible Price-Gouging Law Puts Markets at Mercy of Ambitious Prosecutors

Higher egg prices are not a crisis in the middle of a pandemic full of supply problems.

Scott Shackford | 4.6.2022 1:30 PM

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Inflation

Blame Insane Government Spending for Inflation

Some want to solve the problem with subsidies for gas, housing, child care, and more. That only risks greater stagnation.

Veronique de Rugy | 3.31.2022 4:25 PM

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Rent control

Rent Control Is Fashionable Again. It's Still a Bad Idea.

Even supposedly well-designed rent control policies come at the expense of new supply while creating a class of renters opposed to necessary zoning reforms.

Christian Britschgi | 12.10.2021 3:20 PM

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Protectionism

Where's My Stuff?

Supply chains are struggling, but they're not as fragile as you think.

Daniel W. Drezner | 12.5.2021 6:00 AM

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California

Gavin Newsom Has Been Absent as California Port Crisis Drives America's Supply Chain Problems

Perhaps Newsom doesn't want to do anything because the real solutions will anger his union and environmental allies.

Steven Greenhut | 11.19.2021 8:45 AM

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Free Trade

Joe Biden Invoked 'I, Pencil' To Explain Supply Chains, but He Seems To Have Missed the Point

"Even products as simple as a pencil have to use wood from Brazil and graphite from India before it comes together at a factory in the United States," Biden said.

Eric Boehm | 11.10.2021 6:00 PM

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Joe Biden

No, Joe Biden Can't Save Christmas

We've turned the presidency into an omnipotent office, and we expect that our gifts and government checks will be delivered on time.

Eric Boehm | 10.15.2021 2:40 PM

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War on Drugs

Opium Suppression in Afghanistan Was a US-led Failure

The basics of supply and demand still applied.

Jeffrey Clemens, Jeffrey Miron, and Pedro Braga Soares | 8.24.2021 10:10 AM

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Economic Nationalism

COVID-19 Industrial Policy Fails Again

A Connecticut company got a $138 million government contract in order to break America's supposed "dependence" on foreign-made syringes. It has yet to produce even a single one.

Eric Boehm | 4.22.2021 1:50 PM

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Price controls

Wartime Rationing Changed How America Ate for a Century. The Pandemic Will Do the Same.

The government tried to stabilize the nation's food supply 80 years ago. Its efforts backfired.

Liz Wolfe | 4.5.2021 6:00 AM

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Coronavirus

No, Stimulus Spending Wouldn't Be an Economic Vaccine Against the Coronavirus

If it works at all (and it usually doesn't), a fiscal stimulus is meant to boost demand. The biggest potential economic problem from coronavirus has to do with supply.

Eric Boehm | 3.6.2020 5:05 PM

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Rent control

California Passes Statewide Rent Control Despite a Massive Housing Shortage

Economists have long warned that rent control only limits housing supply and drives up prices in the long-run

Christian Britschgi | 9.12.2019 1:35 PM

Price Gouging

Hurricanes

How 'Price Gouging' Can Help Floridians in Hurricane Dorian's Path

High prices can bring much-needed supplies into a disaster zone.

Zuri Davis | 8.31.2019 11:13 AM

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Affordable Housing

Heads Up, California: Sydney Has Figured Out How to Get the Rents Down

It's by building lots more housing, obviously.

Scott Shackford | 7.15.2019 2:10 PM

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HomePage

'Price Gouging' Is Supply and Demand at Work, Even in a Polar Vortex

Price signals ultimately mean more supplies for disaster-struck areas.

Joe Setyon | 1.31.2019 10:00 AM

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HomePage

State AGs in Michael's Path Agree to Stop the Flow of Needed Goods

Price gouging is not the evil many officials make it out to be.

Joe Setyon | 10.11.2018 5:45 PM

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HomePage

Stossel: These Students Know More Than Politicians

Politicians condemn price gougers, but students explain why "gouging" is good.

John Stossel and Tanvir Toy | 8.28.2018 10:30 AM

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HomePage

Laws Against 'Gouging' Are Simplistic and Wrong

So-called price gouging helps send important signals to buyers and sellers.

A. Barton Hinkle | 9.6.2017 12:00 PM

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HomePage

Why the USDA Shouldn't Be Buying Up Surplus Cheese

The feds are bailing out dairy producers. Here's why that's a terrible and wasteful mistake.

Baylen Linnekin | 8.27.2016 8:00 AM

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HomePage

Mandated Biofuels = More Greenhouse Gases

Politicians adopt a policy that does the opposite of what they supposedly intended to do.

Ronald Bailey | 8.19.2016 1:30 PM

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Hit & Run

Good News: Global Energy Intensity Continues to Decline

Energy demand projected to increase by nearly 50 percent by 2040

Ronald Bailey | 7.18.2016 10:09 AM

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Hit & Run

$15 Minimum Wage Could Kill Up to 5 Million Jobs

Forward comrades to the unemployment lines and soup kitchens!

Ronald Bailey | 7.6.2016 1:03 PM

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Hit & Run

U.S. Oil Reserves Bigger Than Saudi Arabia's

Peak oil still nowhere in sight

Ronald Bailey | 7.5.2016 12:31 PM

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Politics

When Did the U.S. Repeal the Laws of Supply and Demand?

Of soda taxes and minimum wages.

A. Barton Hinkle | 4.6.2016 12:00 PM

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HomePage

Paul Krugman Blames Over-Regulation for Urban Unaffordability

Progressive economist gets supply-and-demand, to a point.

Anthony Fisher | 4.5.2016 1:37 PM

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Hit & Run

'The poor are better off when we build more housing for the rich,' reports Washington Post

Says the notion that expanding the housing market benefits both poor and rich sounds "counterintuitive"

Ronald Bailey | 2.16.2016 5:23 PM

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Hit & Run

Oil Prices to Fall to $20 Per Barrel?

Surprise: Oil production did not peak on Thanksgiving Day 2005

Ronald Bailey | 9.11.2015 11:03 AM

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Hit & Run

No, a New Uber-Like App for Yellow Taxis Won't Save This Dying Industry.

Arro was designed to solve the problems of taxi drivers, not customers.

Jim Epstein | 8.30.2015 1:00 PM

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Policy

Minimum Wage and Magical Thinking

No one can defy the law of demand.

Ronald Bailey | 4.4.2015 12:01 AM

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Hit & Run

Ronald Bailey Debunks New Minimum Wage Hocus Pocus

Magical thinking that hurts job seekers

Reason Staff | 2.6.2015 1:30 PM

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HomePage

The Minimum Wage and Magical Thinking

Defying the law of demand never works

Ronald Bailey | 2.6.2015 10:45 AM

Politics

How Low Can Oil Prices Go?

Peak oil? What peak oil?

Ronald Bailey | 12.5.2014 1:30 PM

Politics

How to Grow the Supply of Health Care RIGHT NOW!

Nick Gillespie and Todd Krainin | 7.1.2014 12:00 PM

Economics

Nobel-Winning Economist Dale Mortensen Dies at 74

Studied supply and demand in the job market

Reason Staff | 1.9.2014 5:30 PM

Economics

Pot Prices in Colo. Quickly Double

As predicted, demand far outpaces supply

Reason Staff | 1.6.2014 6:10 PM

Economics

Colo. Lawmakers Worry They Don't Have Enough Marijuana to Meet Demand

Legal recreational sales begin in three weeks

Reason Staff | 12.10.2013 3:00 PM

Politics

The Economic Lesson Obama Needs to Learn

Freedom, not regulation, is what the U.S. needs right now.

Sheldon Richman | 7.28.2013 8:00 AM

Politics

How Will Obama Protect Us From Onion Speculators?

Tim Cavanaugh | 4.23.2012 12:09 PM

Politics

Newt's Despicable Gasoline Price Promise

Newt Gingrich imagines he can command the law of supply and demand.

Ronald Bailey | 3.13.2012 6:00 PM

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