[madmax96]

>It seems plausible to me that the price elasticity of demand[1] for eggs is small

Agreed.

>If the prices jumped by 60%, and now the shelves were full of an abundance of expensive eggs, that would be suggestive that the reason for the spike in price is pure profiteering.

Price gouging, one form of profiteering [1], “is the practice of increasing the prices of goods, services, or commodities to a level much higher than is considered reasonable or fair.” [2]. The ability to sell product has nothing to do with price gouging.

Cal-Maine’s profit margin is up 7,890% year-to-year [3]. This is textbook profiteering.

>And those who have the ability to procure more eggs will now be able to demand more resources for those eggs.

What one can do is rarely what one should do. The people who can’t afford eggs could resort to violence. But where would society be then?

>or instead of requiring people to burn time and gas looking for eggs while the price of the eggs they find remains the same.

Or, like with toilet paper, meat, or several other essential items during the pandemic, groceries limit the amount of eggs customers can purchase to keep them stocked.

All this to say: We’re being fucked.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profiteering_(business) [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_gouging [3] https://www.google.com/finance/quote/CALM:NASDAQ?sa=X&ved=2a...