Hurrican Hugo; R. Shannon

Responding quickly to the crisis, political au thorities proclaimed that persons found guilty of such heinous crimes would be dealt with swiftly and harshly.The tedious delay so common to po litical actions was notably absent in this crucial situation. To paraphrase a line from a play by Congreve, however, while these politicians "married in haste, they may repent at leisure." For once again, as happens so many times, the advantages of the free market process they stifled have been sadly ignored. First of all, repressing price increases will obvi ously not eliminate the main problem at hand, which is that there is simply not enough of these needed items to go around. So many people will Professor Shannon teaches in the Economics Depart ment, Clemson University. just have to do without until more supplies can be brought in. Yet while letting prices go up does have the un fortunate effect of putting poorer people at a spe cial disadvantage, these higher prices might cause some people to use their ingenuity and seek out suitable substitutes: some can resort to bicycles, others might have neighbors willing to lend a chain saw, others still could be more careful about using the food supplies they already have.

Then others in greater need could buy the goods. Admittedly, these measures may offer only meager help in such an extraordinary crisis, but they are not apt to be totally negligible. Of far greater impact is the effect of prices on supply. Given that prices did soar upward, one suspects that not all the greedy vendors are in Charleston and nearby areas. Knowing that they might reap large rewards, people with en trepreneurial spirits in Augusta, Greenville, and Raleigh might well stock up their pickups and truck on down the interstate highways, thereby helping not only themselves but also the sad citi zens of Charleston. And thus the shortages would shrink. In short, it's all pure Adam Smith, who wrote back in 1776: "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we ex pect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest." The simple wonder of the price system is that it enlists the efforts of self-interest ed people in the services of humanity.

Nor is this the end of the favorable supply re463 Destruction in Charleston in the wake ofHugo. sponses that have been thwarted by the price controls. Knowing that the storm was on its way, many store owners may have brought in extra provisions, at extra expense, anticipating that they could make enough extra money to compen sate them for their troubles. Yet what will happen on future occasions, when Hurricane Jonathan or Hurricane Saman tha comes roaring across the waters? Remember ing the thankless response to their efforts to pre pare for Hurricane Hugo, these store owners may simply greet the news with a yawn. There is a saying to the effect that it isn't nice to mess with Mother Nature. The results of mess ing with market forces are apt to be equally dire. Surely the people devastated by the storm de serve our concern and our charity. But imposing price controls, rather than helping those people out, seems more likely to be adding to their mis ery.

We have not yet learned how to harness the vicious forces of nature. But if we will only allow the power of the free market to work, it can rapidly harness the forces of self-interest to alle viate the suffering that nature has caused. Be cause they failed to understand these fundamen tal facts of elementary economics, the political leaders who are imposing price controls as a hu manitarian gesture may actually be serving as En emies of the People! Is all this idle speculation? Definitely not! We've had experience with price controls ranging back in history to the ancient Code of Hammura bi right up to those established during the Nixon Administration of the 1970s. No doubt many people still recall the long lines and frustrations at our service stations which were the result of price controls on gasoline. Economic theory and historical experience converge, then, to suggest that patience rather than political responses would be the best policy to deal with pricing problems in Charleston. 0 464 Women and the Market: Are They Made for Each Other?