DON’T PANIC! (Panic buying in Australia and other panic-related news)
Channel: Daily Insight
Date: 04/03/2020

Ah, the psychology of panic. When we are told not to panic, what do we do? Well of course we go out and panic! Shoppers are stripping shelves of essential items, at least in some parts of Australia. One of my wife’s acquaintances, a Chinese lady, bought 30 bottles of hand sanitiser, 50 kg of rice, and instant ramen noodles out the ying-yang. Of course, it’s not just supermarket shoppers that are panicking. Investors seem to be following suit. Stock markets around the world are crashing. Investors are scared and don’t know what else to do with their money. Do I invest in stocks, or should I buy more soy milk and hand sanitiser? The Reserve Bank of Australia is also in panic mode. It decided to slash interest rates to a record low of 0.5%. The US Federal Reserve have followed suit and slashed the US interest rate to just below 1.25%. The Australian Government are considering “social distancing” measures which include cancelling mass sporting events and closing down schools or workplaces. There are also calls for people to stop shaking hands as a form of greeting and instead pat each on the back. People are panicking because they see other people doing it. Just as if we saw a group of people running towards us in terror, we would probably start running too. It’s a survival instinct. It’s better to be safe than sorry. When we see empty shelves, we think, “Well, when the next lot of toilet paper comes in, I probably should buy as much as I can, otherwise I might miss out”. Panic breeds panic, and unfortunately, it doesn’t matter how many times the government tell us not to panic, the very action of them telling us not to, probably means that we will.

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