I've always thought of it as some metric of public trust. If you trust the suppliers and government to step up and be honest about the situation you're currentl

I've always thought of it as some metric of public trust. If you trust the suppliers and government to step up and be honest about the situation you're currently in and how they're going to get out of it, you're less likely to feel the need to hoard things during a supply shortage. For most people it's about predictability, and trust in a system is a key part of predictability.