Government Intervention and the Price of KF94 Masks in the Covid-19 Era

摘要

To control the surging prices of KF94 masks amid the Covid-19 pandemic in South Korea, the government mandated 80% of medical masks to be sold as “public masks” at a fixed price. The mask prices came down quickly, ensuring public health and suppressing the spread of the pandemic, and the sales of KF94 masks reverted to the free market system on July 12, 2020. This paper aims to evaluate the unintended consequence of public masks to mitigate any negative effects for future deployment.