Hoarding is the process and the result of hoarding. This verb, which comes from the French accaparer, refers to accumulating assets or appropriating certain products. For example: “The government announced that it will punish the hoarding of basic products by merchants”, “The psychologist will give a talk on compulsive hoarding”, “Land grabbing in a few hands is a worldwide problem”.
Hoarding is generally associated with greed and selfishness. When finite (limited) assets are hoarded that are required by many people, the effect of the act is that there will be subjects who cannot access said assets. Let us suppose that, for various economic reasons, there is a low availability of milk in a country. If a supermarket manages to access thousands of liters and, nevertheless, does not put them up for sale to make the price rise, such hoarding can not only be condemned from a moral point of view, but can also be punished for the law.
This type of hoarding is usually punished by the state. The action involves speculation to influence the market, forcing a price increase that generates an extraordinary profit for the hoarder. In some cases, this behavior can even put people’s lives at risk, making access to essential goods impossible.
There is a psychological disorder, on the other hand, which is known as compulsive hoarder syndrome. In this framework, the person tends to excessive and uncontrolled hoarding of various objects. The accumulation of elements can make it difficult to move around the house or even prevent the performance of essential activities, such as cleaning or resting comfortably.
