Gotta Have Faith

It usually isn't stated this clearly, but a strong cultural pressure within the economics profession (broadly defined) is that you don't acknowledge that the hippies might have a point because then they might take over the zoo.

Guys we can’t even *talk* about price gouging because, per The Economist, the mere suggestion that some firms exploited the pandemic by raising prices in excess of any cost increase “erodes the faith in open markets that makes America prosperous” and I’m not making this stuff up. pic.twitter.com/lPnlM5LUUh

— Hal Singer (@HalSinger) August 26, 2024

If we acknowledge one intervention is good, they might get some ideas about some other ones...