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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 l

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.

aianus 7y ago
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.
- perl4ever 7y ago
  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.
  - yspeak 7y ago
    It's the artificially low prices of the big stores that encourage hoarding and aldo middle men to get in the act and buy it up to profit. Raise the prices and people won't hoard and you eliminate the opportunity for price arbitrage when speculators take advantage of the artificially low prices in the store to sell on the open market to the highest bidder. If prices rise across the board the supply will meet demand and there will be no room for price arbitrage which only appears in dysfunctional markets where prices are artificially set and are not allowed to float.
- BoorishBears 7y ago
  > 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.
  - BoorishBears 7y ago
    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.
evbpcapfxy 7y ago
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.
- michaelt 7y ago
  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?

aianus 7y ago

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.

perl4ever 7y ago
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.
- yspeak 7y ago
  It's the artificially low prices of the big stores that encourage hoarding and aldo middle men to get in the act and buy it up to profit. Raise the prices and people won't hoard and you eliminate the opportunity for price arbitrage when speculators take advantage of the artificially low prices in the store to sell on the open market to the highest bidder. If prices rise across the board the supply will meet demand and there will be no room for price arbitrage which only appears in dysfunctional markets where prices are artificially set and are not allowed to float.
BoorishBears 7y ago
> 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.
- BoorishBears 7y ago
  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.

evbpcapfxy 7y ago

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.

michaelt 7y ago
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?