Hurricane Sandy: New York And New Jersey

Economic Essay Name Institution Economic Essay After Hurricane Sandy, the country was well shaken and everyone was dreading what was to come next. New York and New Jersey were the most affected by the hurricane and later by some of the temporary policies that were put in place. As sanity and calm were being restored and things were slowly returning to normal, people’s lives were thrown into disarray when gas rationing was announced. In her article, Elizabeth Harris notes how distraught the residents of New York and New Jersey were as many were caught up in lines which would be more than a mile long as they wait for gas. It was certain that people were less prepared for rationing as the local and federal governments were trying to ensure normalcy. As per the article, one notes that shortage in the supply of gas led to the horrendously high and expected surge in the demand for gas. When a market is said to be at equilibrium, this simply means that supply and demand are at optimum and there are no excesses in either. However, once either of the two shifts and this is dependent on several factors including but not limited to technology, the price of alternative goods, the number of producers, normal goods, change in preferences, substitutes, market size, etc. the other is also affected. In the article, supply changed and this prompted a change in demand. One other point of note is that the change in demand is directly dependent on the type of commodity which is under short supply. For gas, factors such as substitutes, change in preferences, complementary goods do not work. Gas is a commodity that can be said to be privileged in that it responds in a different way compared to the rest. Whenever a change in the supply of a product occurs, people immediately switch to other products or services which offer or promise a similar experience. However, when it comes to gas, there are no other options unless people decide to cycle or decide to buy electric cars. Therefore, the response as indicated in the article should be expected. In the subsequent sections, this article will elucidate further on the events in the article while borrowing from economic theories. Section 1 will continue to explain the events in the article while section 2 will conclude. Section 1. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), small changes in the “supply or demand” of natural gas “can result in large price movements that bring supply and demand back into balance” (2017). As per the article, the shifts noted above happen mainly because of the “limited alternatives for natural gas consumption.” The world has become accustom...