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Podcast: Cascade CounterPoint
Episode: Should Oregon Punish Hotels for Price Gouging?
Description: Last week, Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblumâs office reached a settlement with four hotels over price gouging during last yearâs wildfires. The hotels have to pay more than $100,000 to the state. In addition, they have to reimburse more than a hundred families for their hotel costs.
Laws against price gouging are about as old as the price system itself. But these laws miss the entire point of the price systemâto allocate resources. There are many ways to allocate resources, but nearly all of them are inferior to the price system. These hotels werenât âgougingâ t...