Panic Buying and Environmental Disasters

Book excerpt: Panic buying is a common response during crises; however, to date it has been a significantly under-researched area. Recent evidence suggests that an environmental stimulus, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, war, earthquakes, flooding, public health emergencies (SARS, MARS) can trigger this phenomenon. As an environmental crisis takes its toll, the understanding of panic buying becomes overlooked. Nevertheless, panic buying causes series of events separate from these primary events. Understanding the management of emergencies and disasters should be an integral part of dealing with panic buying since every major environmental crisis has the potential to initiate panic buying behaviour in the general public. This book will analyse episodes of panic buying and major environmental crisis focusing on specific prevention strategies. This book is the first of its kind of approach to join up the management of panic buying during a public health emergency.