The evidence that price-gouging was responsible for the post-pandemic spike in food prices is somewhere between thin and nonexistent.
A 2023 report from the Kansas City Fed observed that rising food prices were overwhelmingly concentrated in processed foods, driven by labor-market tightness and wage increases.
Even if excessive corporate profits had been the cause of higher food costs, a price-gouging ban would do nothing to relieve Americans' current burdens.
Grocery profits did rise briefly during the pandemic, but the increase was the predictable result of increased demand running headfirst into restricted supply.
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