EDITORIAL: Too egg-pensive: Democrat-passed dictate scrambles supply

At this point, a dozen of Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs might be cheaper than what you can find at the grocery store. Democratic lawmakers in Carson City have a hand in this predicament.

Eggs have long been a staple of breakfast and baking. But the current price of eggs is enough to ruffle anyone’s feathers. As of late this week, a dozen large white eggs at Walmart costs about $7.40.

Prices aren’t just high in Las Vegas. Nationwide, egg prices are up 37 percent compared with a year ago. In December, the average was $4.15 a dozen.

The biggest factor is an outbreak of avian flu. To limit its spread, chicken farms kill whole flocks when the virus is found. As a result, around 26 million egg-laying hens have been lost since mid-October, according to Expana, a company that provides information on commodity prices.

Anyone familiar with the principles of supply and demand understands why this has left consumers hard-boiled. As supply drops, prices increase. If demand drops in response to the high prices, the market will soon balance itself. But if demand is inelastic — that is, less responsive to increases in prices — costs can go up rapidly. That’s what is happening with eggs.

Some might claim that price controls are the over-easy solution. But the over-hard reality is that they would lead to shortages. There simply aren’t enough eggs to meet the demand that exists if eggs were $2 a dozen. Allowing prices to increase is the least bad solution. And higher prices should incentivize more production, although that won’t happen immediately.

But Nevada prices are higher than in many other states. Blame the Democrats in Carson City.

A disproportionate number of the hens who’ve been culled have been cage free. Restoring those flocks takes many months. In a free market, people could simply purchase non-cage-free eggs. Others could decide cage-free eggs are still worth the expense.

But Nevadans don’t have that option. In 2021, Nevada Democrats passed a bill banning the sale of non-cage-free eggs. Predictably, politicians failed to foresee the unintended consequences of their deviled egg meddling.

There’s a move to fix the problem. Bryan Wachter, senior vice president of the Retail Association of Nevada, said Democratic Assemblyman Howard Watts is one of the lawmakers working on a “solution that allows our state to access additional egg markets.”

Mr. Wachter is too polite to point out that Mr. Watts voted for the original ban. Don’t give politicians credit for fixing the problem they created.

Once again, government intervention in the free market isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.