Examining the Ethics of Allocation, Stockpiling When Resources Become Scarce

The outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus led to the stockpiling of groceries and household goods by anxious consumers. For them, it felt like a necessity.

For others of a more entrepreneurial bent, it felt like an opportunity.

In this video lecture for the Hopkins at Home website, Carey Business School Associate Professor Mario Macis examines the economic and ethical implications of stockpiling at a time of scarcity.

An economist whose areas of interest include prosocial behavior, morally controversial transactions, and labor and human resources economics, Macis also holds appointments at the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics and the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality at the JHU School of Medicine. In addition, he is a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research and the Institute of Labor Economics.

The Hopkins at Home site, launched in April 2020 and organized in partnership with the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association, gathers lectures, mini-courses, JHU@TED talks, and other readily-downloadable resources from the university and offers them free to the public.