[sam h]

The premise of this article is stupid. The point about price controls in general is that they shift the supply curve because supply is elastic - you're talking about a long period of time and the assumption is that suppliers are capable of adapting their production of goods. In a short term situation, supply will never shift like this. Nobody is building a hotel in a couple days. So its not a question of anti-gouging laws being inefficient. Its just a question of whether you are going to allow producers to gather the full rent from a short-term disjunction of supply and demand. He tries to cover this up with these dumb anecdotes about demand changing, but that is basically beside the point. Isn't this guy supposed to be an economist?