I dragged myself to the store yesterday and was mildly bemused by the sight of the empty shelves before me. It is still hard to grasp, “Why toilet paper of all things?”. However it is not surprising that once the rumour started that we find ourselves in this situation.
Congratulations! We have found ourselves a real world example of prisoner’s dilemma. That is, we have a situation where individuals will make an optimal decision for themselves (to buy TP before it all runs out) which is detrimental to the group (society) as a whole.
If I had shares in Andrex I would probably be more amused, but luckily it seems that most of your local independent corner shops are still stocked so no need to worry about showering just yet.
