Higher prices, especially when caused by profiteering, exacerbate shortages. The price encourages more hoarding and profiteering. The lag in production and in

Higher prices, especially when caused by profiteering, exacerbate shortages. The price encourages more hoarding and profiteering. The lag in production and inventories means that this type of "information" takes a long time to flow to the original producers and then back to consumers, and in the mean time more inventory is in the hands of profiteers and fewer average people are able to protect themselves.