Panic Buying Phenomenon In The Middle Of A Pandemic And Its Impact On The Economy

 

 

BY : Jihan Ma’rifatul Hidayah

JULY 25, 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic began to spread since the first two positive cases were confirmed in Indonesia. The fear and fear of contracting the virus began to be felt by indonesian people both in urban and rural areas. This sense of concern makes people's behavior change from their habits. Actions to take care of yourself and efforts to meet the needs become one of the changing behaviors. One of the behaviors that change is buying and buying more necessities and groceries than consumed every day. Excessive purchases at one time in the midst of the Covid-19 virus outbreak is based on high anxiety.

Panic Buying is the behavior of hoarding goods carried out by consumers or the public when the situation is considered emergency or emergency as an effort to maintain the stock of basic needs. This behavior often arises as a form of preparation for disasters or outbreaks, so people assume that there are concerns if they do not buy in large quantities, then the stock of goods will run out, or the price of goods will be more expensive.

The phenomenon of panic buying during the pandemic turned out to cause a scarcity of goods caused by a surge in demand in a short time.  Clearly, this can interfere with the distribution of food that can actually be controlled since the beginning of the Pandemic.

 

The Impact of Panic Buying on the People's Economy

On the economic side, clearly Panic Buying behavior will result in a rapid increase in the volume of purchases which leads to a significant price increase. In an economic context, Panic Buying's actions will also reduce supply and result in increased supply. Panic Buying is also juxtaposed with the unevenness of information and greed response to an item for fear of the item being exhausted or the price of the item increasing. (Bahri, 2014)

In the economy, the rise of people hunting for an item, such as a mask, affects the demand side. As the law of demand and supply in the economy applies, namely: if there is high demand because there is not a small amount of goods, then the price of goods will be more expensive. This factor is then utilized by rente hunters or profit seekers. Because, in the midst of panic buying conditions, people tend to buy more goods than needed. If this is done by many people, then the result is a scarcity of goods caused by an imbalance between demand and supply.

If most people over-purchase goods at the same time, it can cause the stock of goods suddenly depleted to become scarce for a certain period of time. This can certainly directly adversely affect other communities. This condition can certainly be utilized by irresponsible parties for personal gain only. This kind of thing will certainly harm many people who are more in need and have an impact on market imbalances.

To anticipate and mitigate the recurrence of panic buying, it is necessary to clear information from the competent authorities. In addition, the information presented by the government is ideally not overlapping. The clearness of information received by the public, he continued, can ease the psychological pressures of society including from various kinds of hoax news. Another concrete step that can also be done by the government is to distribute masks for free or free to the public. This is like the government of Indonesia has done when addressing the problem of forest and land fires. Distribution of this mask distribution can also be done flexibly, such as in public crowded centers, offices, schools, and so on. Therefore, people do not feel worried to buy masks in the market and are not utilized by rente hunters who sell at a high price.

Choosing to panic buying or shopping as needed is entirely in the hands of consumers. However, it is good to keep the action so as not to harm others. Because, with panic buying, it may be that the profiteers are rente hunters and, conversely, people who really need the harmed.