system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Inflation or Price Gouging?

How do economists know for certain that what we are experiencing is inflation, and not widespread, coordinated price gouging?
gpt
Inflation is a sustained increase in the general price level.

Or in other words, if prices go up, *that's inflation*, it doesn't matter *why* prices go up.

Beyond that, "price gouging" isn't a well defined term and often laden with subjectivity. Legal definitions aren't much more consistent, either.