突发公共事件期间哄抬价格行为法律规制的理性与德性

Rationality and Morality of the Legal Regulation of Price Gouging During Public Emergencies

在全世界范围内,突发公共事件期间哄抬价格行为都受到了严格的法律规制,但在学理上是否应当规制以及如何规制哄抬价格行为存在争议。支持规制者认为哄抬价格行为背离了公民社会的基本德性和人类社会对公平交易的普遍追求;反对规制者将哄抬价格行为规制视为对市场机制价格信号功能的破坏,不仅不会带来德性的后果,反而有害于普通民众的利益。从现有哄抬价格行为法律规制实践来看,确实存在着立法界定模糊不清、执法认定标准难的问题,但不能因此否认行政规制的必要性。反对规制的观点局限于“政府市场”的二元分析框架,缺少对“社会维度”的分析。突发公共事件期间法律的制定与实施受到公共政策的影响。支持规制也不能依赖于价格管制这种单一的行政手段,在突发公共事件中特定经营者所处的市场地位使其具有牟取垄断利润的可能,需要引入竞争政策作为行政规制的有效补充。

Price-gouging behaviors are strictly regulated by law during public emergencies all over the world.However,there are disputes on whether and how to regulate price gouging behaviors in theory.The pro-regulators believe that price gouging deviates from the basic virtue of civil society and the universal pursuit of fair trade in human society,while the anti-regulators regard price gouging as a violation of the price signal function of market mechanism,which will not bring about moral consequences but harm the interests of ordinary people.Judging from the existing legal regulation practice of price gouging,it is indeed faced with the problems of ambiguous legislative definition and difficult standards for law enforcement,but the necessity of administrative regulation cannot be denied.The viewpoint against regulation is limited to the dual analytical framework of“government-market”and lacks the analysis of“social dimension”.The formulation and implementation of laws during public emergencies are influenced by public policies.The supporting regulation also cannot rely on the single administrative means such as price control.In public emergencies,the market position of specific operators has the possibility of seeking monopoly profits,so it is necessary to introduce the competition policy as an effective supplement to the administrative regulation.