re: #309 Olsonist

Good overview. Yes, in addition to Katrina there was also the housing bubble as well. Despite this, there is no reason to lower building standards. The law of supply and demand really does have two sides. We could have raised prices on quality drywall rather than lower standards and importing cheap crap. Could have.

Raising prices is helpful if you assume that demand is elastic. But for drywall, if your house was gutted by a hurricane, you need it, and you aren’t a price-sensitive buyer. And if you are Toll Bros or Lennar putting up a zillion homes in FL, you would simply pass that cost along. But you wouldn’t slow down your purchases: you have a production schedule to meet and a market to satisfy. Raising prices makes more money for USG, but it doesn’t get you drywall any faster.

All of those guys were screaming at their suppliers to get them drywall on time.