Is this progress in the public discussion of so-called ?price gouging?? I’m not sure.
The Hendersonville Times News reported two instances of alleged ?price gouging? during hurricane cleanup this week, but the specific allegations appear to be really about fraud. In one case, a man was quoted a price of $1,500 to take down an oak tree, but after being paid the company never did the work. In another case, a tree service took down a tree and then handed the homeowner a bill for $18, 200 ? apparently a price that was not agreed to beforehand.
This both appear to be swindles. Price gouging as popularly defined is a much-broader concept that asserts the price of goods and services should not rise after a hurricane or other natural disaster. It is contrary to basic economic principle (unless you subscribe to discredited labor or cost theories of value that suggest goods should be ?worth? the time and effort put into producing them, rather than the value that consumers place on them). A tree service will be in higher demand, and is obviously much-more valuable to a homeowner, after a disaster than before, so the asking price for providing service should reasonably rise.
What happened to these two WNC households is either out-and-out fraud or some kind of confusion about what would be done at what price. These are issues of contract, not price regulation.
