I start laughing every time that I look at the high gas prices because of how a recent article described the prices as leading to "demand destruction". ("Destruction" insofar as the prices are so high that the quantity at which they're demanded cannot/will not be paid for at those prices.)
It makes me laugh because this phrase would only be used by someone that's working with a very different idea of how the economy works/should work. It's like expecting the economy to be centrally planned and that in this case some person/policymaker arbitrarily set a high price and wiped out "demand" overnight, similar to as if they killed off a whole industry with strict regulations, but the gas prices thing is affecting the consumer side of the market instead of the producer side.
@RandomDamage
Yes, you're correct! I posted these posts before looking into the term/concept itself. I was reacting to the news article I saw without looking into it more. 😥
The concept itself is actually quite interesting in terms of path dependent outcomes and innovation. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demand_destruction
The article I saw the term used in was just more like "the market won't give us what we want at the price we want it, and we're f-ing pissed!" 😂
@bthall I've always taken it as the price is what destroys the demand (by making it so that people "do without" or find alternatives)
While economists have some crazy assumptions, centralized planning is not one of them.