Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff convenes a committee to monitor prices and service ahead of next year’s World Cup to head off price gouging. But for retailers, there’s a fine line between appropriately responding to increased demand and taking advantage.
New York and New Jersey will end gas rationing programs that were put place in some areas post-Sandy. As demand continues to outstrip supply, some people are going to extreme measures to find or steal gas.
Price-gouging during natural disaster is illegal, and New Jersey is prosecuting some gas stations after Hurricane Sandy. But gouging also is a means for distributing more broadly, because it discourages hoarding.
