price gouging
English
[edit]
Verb
[edit]- present participle and gerund of price gouge
Noun
[edit]price gouging (usually uncountable, plural price gougings)
- (business, economics) The act of or an instance of charging services or pricing goods at unreasonably high prices.
- The farmers aren't really guilty of price gouging, but they are trying to recoup some of their losses from the flooding earlier this spring.
Usage notes
[edit]How to define what is reasonable relies on principles of market forces (what the market will bear), but the gouging concept recognizes egregious exceptions as being exploitative, with a polar example being the needless exploitation of people's basic needs (such as food, potable water, and medicines) during a natural disaster.
Translations
[edit]act of or an instance of charging services or pricing goods at unreasonably high prices