A discussion of irrational stockpiling behaviour during crisis

Abstract

One of the ubiquitous human behaviours observed in natural disasters and humanitarian crisis is irrational stockpiling (also known as hoarding or panic buying). Limited, distorted and exaggerated information during crisis disturbs people's judgement and results in aberrant actions which can be explained with economics and psychology theories. The objective of this paper is to examine the perplexing stockpiling phenomena during disasters like COVID-19 pandemic and discuss its immediate and long-term impact on economy, society and local communities.