Businesses price gouging people will experience the opposite effect - forever.
How do you define “price gouging”? I say it’s mine and it’s not for sale. You want it at any price, should I be forced to sell it at your price or not sell it at all if it’s not what I would take?
Dear libertarian figment of Ayn Rand’s imagination. You are not “forced” to sell anything. You can show everyone and close down during a disaster. Republican and Demonrat States forbid price gouging. Why? Because they don’t want businesses burned and looted. They are not darwinists.
Just so you know, price gouging is raising your profit margins on items beyond what is your profit margins were prior to the disaster. So if the widgets cost you more than before the disaster, you can charge more.
During a disaster, business owners who are quick in getting going again, make lots more business in volume of sales. So in a way, they benefit in profit from a disaster without taking advantage of people’s suffering and ripping everyone off.