This is a list of prior posts relevant to the current spot shortages of toilet paper. Just the stuff that seemed on-topic to me.
The first post predates the arrival of coronavirus here and starts with the first pre-pandemic whiff of panic buying (masks, Home Depot). Most of the rest deal directly or tangentially with pandemic-related shortages.
I toss in a few other shortages, and end wit a post about bank runs. Because everybody likes a good bank run. Now and then. But I have omitted any mention of the great canning lid shortage, which surely deserves a separate list for length considerations alone.
Each image should be a link.
Post #560: Real backpackers don’t use toilet paper: The arithmetic of panic shopping
This next one is the exposition of the economic theory, such as it is. Call today’s TP shortage just another example of a self-reinforcing irrationality, a.k.a. “Who’s laughing now?”.
The argument is this: If I’m rational and know where TP comes from, I see no need to stock up. But thinking ahead, this means that if I do legitimately need to purchase TP in the short term, the stores may be out. And guess who has toilet paper, in that situation? (Answer: All the dummies that panicked. They have TP and I don’t. Who’s laughing now, eh? Rationally, then, I should participate in what I know to be irrational behavior. Elbow-to-elbow with my fellow shoppers.
Post #563: We need a TP FDIC, or, hoarding is a self-fulfilling prophecy
Back to the pandemic.
I had forgotten how badly the Trump administration fumbled the response to the pandemic. Kind of glad now that I blogged about it at the time.
Post #816: We actually did have a rational, national plan for mask use?
Post #865: Getting ready for a hard winter, 5: Grocery story deja vu
Post #1568: COVID-19 trend to 8/10/2022, now 33 new cases per 100K per day