Connecticut should pass its Senate Bill 60, which states that during a “severe weather event emergency, no person within the chain of distribution of consumer goods and services shall sell or offer to sell consumer goods or services for a price that is unconscionably excessive.”
Responses
Responses weighted by each expert's confidence
| Participant | University | Vote | Confidence | Bio/Vote History |
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 Daron Acemoglu |
MIT | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Alberto Alesina |
Harvard | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Joseph Altonji |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Alan Auerbach |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 David Autor |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
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It's generally efficient to use the price mechanism to allocate scarce goods, e.g., umbrellas on a rainy day. Banning this is unwise.
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 Katherine Baicker |
University of Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Marianne Bertrand |
Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Raj Chetty |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Judith Chevalier |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Need to stimulate supply
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 Janet Currie |
Princeton | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 David Cutler |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Without defining "unconscionably," I don't know what to think about this.
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 Angus Deaton |
Princeton | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Efficiency is less important than distribution under such transitory conditions.
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 Darrell Duffie |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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I'm unsure how the courts will define "unconscionably excessive." Efficient allocation by market prices is good, absent monopoly effects.
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 Aaron Edlin |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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statute is vague. also statute could put goods in hands of those with limited need who hoard them.
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 Barry Eichengreen |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Ray Fair |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Alas, I live in this state.
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 Pinelopi Goldberg |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Torn about this. The term "unconscionably" seems too loose - is it a 20% or 500% markup? But the goods need to be allocated somehow.
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 Claudia Goldin |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Austan Goolsbee |
Chicago | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Michael Greenstone |
University of Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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unconscionably excessive is VERY imprecise. extreme weather can disproportionately hurt poor and this could be efficient redistribution.
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 Robert Hall |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Goal is to allocate suddenly scarce goods optimally. Prices are only a tool, but often the right tool. Law doesn't have a good alternative.
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 Bengt Holmström |
MIT | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Caroline Hoxby |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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I sympathize w the intention but goods must be allocated in some way & prices are better than first come or fights breaking out among people
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 Kenneth Judd |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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The vagueness of the law means more businesses will shut down, which is the same as setting price to infinity, a legal price.
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 Anil Kashyap |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Seems like pandering, "post-storm cleanup or repair services" are included. It seems like those prices could reasonably soar after a storm.
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 Pete Klenow |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Would presumably lead to misallocation and lower supply than optimal. There are better ways to redistribute.
-see background information here |
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 Edward Lazear |
Stanford | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Inefficiency from short term monopoly that results in "gouging" is secondary to losses in efficiency from a getting items to right users.
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 Jonathan Levin |
Stanford | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Eric Maskin |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 William Nordhaus |
Yale | Bio/Vote History | ||
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At best, symbolic. At worst, would return to price controls of the 1970s.
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 Maurice Obstfeld |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Emmanuel Saez |
Berkeley | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 José Scheinkman |
Columbia University | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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 Richard Schmalensee |
MIT | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Seeks to prevent prices from clearing markets; never a good thing. Standard is hopelessly vague so increases risk for affected businesses.
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 Hyun Song Shin |
Princeton | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 James Stock |
Harvard | Bio/Vote History | ||
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 Nancy Stokey |
University of Chicago | Bio/Vote History | ||
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State legislatures should focus on more important questions.
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 Richard Thaler |
Chicago Booth | Bio/Vote History | ||
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Not needed. Big firms hold prices firm. "Entrepreneurs" with trucks help meet supply. Are the latter covered? If so, bad.
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 Christopher Udry |
Northwestern | Bio/Vote History | ||
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The "unconscionably excessive" language may be a way to rescue this - maybe any price at which S=D is ok. Then sb60 is just a waste of time.
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 Luigi Zingales |
Chicago Booth | Did Not Answer | Bio/Vote History | |
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