Harris Seeks to Ban Price Gouging–What Would It Mean?

Last month, Vice President Kamala Harris announced that if elected in November she would approve “the first-ever federal ban on price gouging on food.” The Democrat presidential nominee’s public policy measure builds on the current administration’s March announcement to form a joint Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission “strike force” to target companies that engage in price-gouging practices. Since January 2021, food price inflation has surged nearly 22 percent. While the growth rate in supermarket prices has slowed, a May 2024 Purdue University Consumer Food Insights survey concluded that 80 percent of consumers say food prices have risen over the past 12 months....