Hoarding

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Hoarding is a general term for the accumulation of food or other items. The term is used to describe both animal and human behavior.

[edit] Animal Behavior

Hoarding of food is a natural behaviour in certain species of animals. Such hoarding occurs in two forms:

• Larder hoarding, the collection of large amounts of food in a single place (a larder), which usually also serves as the nest where the animal lives. Hamsters are famous larder hoarders. Indeed, the word "hamster" is derived from the German verb "hamstern" which means "to hoard"; similar verbs are found in various related languages (Dutch hamsteren, and Swedish hamstra). Other languages also draw a clear connection between hamsters and hoarding: Polish chomikować, from chomik – hamster; Hebrew hamster; oger (אוגר) comes from to hoarde; le'egor (לאגור).
• Scatter hoarding, the formation of a large number of small hoards or caches of nuts and other seeds. Many species of squirrel, including the Eastern Gray Squirrel and the fox squirrel, are well known for scatter hoarding. This behaviour plays an important part in seed dispersal, as those seeds that are left uneaten will have a chance to germinate, thus enabling plants to spread their populations effectively.

[edit] Human Behavior

Hoarding as a human behavior may be a response to perceived or predicted shortages of specific goods, or a compulsive abnormal behavior. The compulsive collecting of objects is known as pathological or compulsive hoarding. The compulsive collection and ownership of pets is known as animal hoarding.

Hoarding behavior may be a common response to fear, whether fear of imminent society-wide danger or simple fear of a shortage of some good. Civil unrest or natural disaster may lead people to collect foodstuffs, water, gasoline, and other essentials which they believe, rightly or wrongly, will soon be in short supply. Unlike hoarding immediately before or in the wake of a crisis, hoarding a resource while its supply is abundant can actually alleviate future shortages because those who stockpile in this manner will not contribute to future demand when supplies are reduced.

Humans also hoard money, especially if they expect deflation, in which falling prices mean that the purchasing power of money will rise. More generally, money hoarding is the accumulation of money (in the form of gold at the origin) by people who avoid spending it or investing it in economic projects, because of a risk aversion, or of a preference for liquidity, or of a lack of a better use for the money. A current example is the hoarding by Asiatic central banks of massive amounts of US dollars, resulting from their countries' trade surpluses, in the form of tradable US Treasury securities.

Hoarding of goods can often cause the very shortage which has been feared, and governments sometimes choose to introduce rationing in order to combat hoarding, as well as to reduce consumption and waste. However, those who have successfully hoarded the desired goods will not have to worry about the shortage, whether it was their fault or not.

On a larger scale, hoarding can be a business strategy similar to monopolisation, where an individual or organization attempts to temporarily control all available supplies of a given good in order to artificially increase the price. This strategy is also known as "cornering the market".

[edit] See also

• Hoard (archaeological)
• Compulsive hoarding
• Collyer brothers - rich eccentrics, famous for compulsive hoarding
• Plyushkin - fictional Russian hoarder