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Five Hillsdale College economists wave their conservative campus' free-market flag in Dana Nessel's face.
The West Michigan professors advocate raising retail prices for high-demand items to ease panic buying during the national health emergency. They'd greatly prefer supply-end favoritism over Nessel's consumer protection approach -- a public service they see as the heavy hand of government.
Students who "understand the free market .... will be equipped to 'win the battle of ideas.'"
(Website image: Hillsdale College)
"As professional economists, we have shocking advice to break this [hoarding] cycle and keep supplies on the shelf: Raise prices on items in high demand," the Hillsdale quintet write in a Detroit News letter to the editor published Tuesday. "Michigan’s attorney general, by contrast, is worsening shortages by threatening businesses that raise prices more than a modest amount."
Got that now? Threatening businesses so they act fairly is bad. Letting prices soar for sanitizer, toilet paper, face masks and anything else is good because "businesses would shift into even higher gear to produce scarce goods."
Gordon Gecko couldn't put it more starkly.
For her part, Nessel vows Tuesday on Twitter: "I will not allow consumers to be taken advantage of during a public emergency. I encourage consumers to continue filing complaints with my office so that we can properly investigate these complaints and determine what legal action must be taken."
Her office sent a cease-and-desist letter Tuesday to the Menards hardware chain after getting 18 complaints. Investigators found that sanitizers doubled in price and that face masks were significantly raised, WDIV reports. "My office will work diligently to ensure this state’s consumers are treated fairly and not abused by businesses seeking to unlawfully jack prices up at the expense of the public during this time of need," she tweets with a link to the station's coverage.
“We intend to investigate all consumer reports related to price-gouging during this public emergency, and justice will be delivered swiftly and accordingly.” @MIAttyGen @dananessel ➡️https://t.co/eQwAfosyDf pic.twitter.com/IbBFwPEeIn
— Michigan Attorney General (@MIAttyGen) March 16, 2020
At Hillsdale, that type of civic-minded thinking "misapplies our moral intuitions and actually harms the public," the professors profess.
One on one, it's indeed wrong to take advantage of someone's desperation to drive a hard bargain. In an open market with competition, though, a shortage is telling us that the price needs to be higher for the common good.
So say these gents with Ph.D. after their names: Christopher S. Martin, Charles N. Steele, Gary L. Wolfram, Ivan Pongracic Jr. and Michael J. Clark. Ph.D.
