1,180 — Price Gouging

Why are the prices so high? Learn some basic economics in this lesson.
Slow dialog: 1:20
Explanations: 3:42
Fast dialog: 17:22
Pedro: Why are you changing the prices on all of those items in the store?
Elisa: Haven’t you heard? There’s a hurricane coming. People will be stocking up on basic necessities.
Pedro: I know that, but that still doesn’t explain why you’ve decided to jack up prices.
Elisa: There’s nothing wrong with taking advantage of a spike in demand during emergency situations. We’re in business to make money.
Pedro: That’s price gouging and you know it. There are laws against that. And plus, we shouldn’t be exploiting people’s fear.
Elisa: I’m not responsible for that hurricane and I didn’t tell people to hoard. I’m not hiking prices so high that people can’t afford it. I’m just increasing them to discourage hoarding, that’s all.
Pedro: I don’t know. It still doesn’t feel right. It feels like we’re profiteering.
Elisa: No, we’re not. We’re making a sound business decision. Hey, where are you going with those?
Pedro: I’m putting some of these items in the back to reserve for people who can’t afford your new prices, the poorest and the most vulnerable in our community.
Elisa: You’re not suggesting we give those items away!
Pedro: You’ll thank me later for helping you to assuage your guilty conscience.
Elisa: Hmph!

Script by Dr. Lucy Tse