On the margin, of course it's the case that being able to charge high prices incentivizes wanting to sell product. Home Depot would have a reason to stock a fe

On the margin, of course it's the case that being able to charge high prices incentivizes wanting to sell product. Home Depot would have a reason to stock a few more snow shovels every winter and Valero would have reason to pay a few more trucks overtime before a hurricane if they knew that they'd make their money back and then some in expected value. They might decide to or not, they might be right or wrong, but that's reality. It might not make sense even without laws limiting what you can charge for your products to stock up for such situations -- there are other ways we might want to incent things if it's worth it. Note: this is talking about price gouging situations. The egg thing is a different situation, where the accusation -- despite the headline -- is collusion, not price gouging.