Gouged
The End of a Fair Price--and What That Means for Your Wallet

Quotes

“Lindsay Owens has written a thrilling true crime story about how the largest corporate monopolies in America have hatched a scheme to pick our pockets. Gouged is the book corporate America does not want you to read.”
—Robert B. Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor

"Gouged uncovers a hidden cause of the affordability crisis: algorithms that set prices, which often means tailoring the price for individuals and fixing the price across markets. Corporate greed is nothing new; what's new is the technology that has made competition, fairness, and transparency obsolete. As a result, consumers are paying more for everything from rent to medicine to groceries. Owens's book reveals the new ways that big tech is allowing big corporations to rig the game, and what we can do to fight back."
—Heather McGhee, author of The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together

“Gouged is a must-read for anyone wondering how everything got so damn expensive and who is profiting off your misery. This book is for students renting their first apartment, parents trying to feed their families, travelers paying way too much to fly, and consumers getting ripped off at every turn by AI-fueled pricing schemes. Lindsay Owens is a brilliant writer and a phenomenal investigator who excels at deconstructing the complex into a riveting story—and she of course has a plan to fight back. If you’re sick and tired of being squeezed by giant corporations and just want life to be a little easier and much more affordable, this book is for you.”
—Senator Elizabeth Warren

“Ever have the sneaking suspicion that you're paying more for something online than you should be, or than your neighbor is? You probably are. And you should be outraged. Lindsay Owens tells us how we got here and what we should do about it. Required reading for all American consumers and policymakers.”
—Rana Foroohar, author of Homecoming: The Path to Prosperity in a Post-Global World

“Too much of American business now depends on bilking customers when they are weakest, and gouging has gone from an occasional outrage to a constant aggravation. Lindsay Owens’s fascinating, engaging, and often enraging book will leave you wondering how we let things get this bad and why we can’t do better.”
—Tim Wu, author of The Age of Extraction: How Tech Platforms Conquered the Economy and Threaten Our Future Prosperity

“In Gouged, Lindsay Owens reveals how the world is undergoing a revolution in how companies price goods for sale—and, no surprise, corporate America’s predatory financial actions do not favor you. Gouged is not just incisive and revelatory; it is one of the most important books of the year.”
—Helaine Olen, author of Pound Foolish: Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry

“Gouged is a state-of-the-art inquiry into the reinvention of the ripoff happening right now in boardrooms across the country. Lindsay Owens has written an essential portrait of corporate America’s digital underbelly.”
—Zachary D. Carter, author of The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes

“Gouged is an entertaining exposé into the high-tech methods (from dynamic and drip pricing to dark patterns) that big businesses and ruthless employers use to cheat consumers and workers. With this brilliant debut, Lindsay Owens offers us shocking stories and essential strategies we need to fight together for fair prices and wages.”
—Jennifer Taub, author of Big Dirty Money: Making White Collar Criminals Pay

“Corporate executives must read this book. In Gouged, Lindsay Owens chronicles corporate overreach in pricing. Just because data science and real-time computing can enable efficient and opaque profit maximization doesn't make it the smart or right thing to do. Gouged brings sunshine to pricing strategies that many would prefer remain in the shadows, exposing practices that are exploitative and supporting us in demanding greater accountability.”
—Bob Hedges, MIT Digital Fellow and former Visa Chief Data Officer

“Owens does important work here: sector by sector and scam by scam, she lays out how companies collude—often with the assistance of a captured and tame state—to reduce competition in order to raise prices, from groceries to rents to airline tickets. . . . All of this is laid out with admirable clarity and detail. By the time you get to the last chapter, you’ll know exactly how you’re getting scammed, who is scamming you, and why they’re getting away with it . . . Long ago, Owens convinced me that the system is rigged and we all deserve better. This book made that case even clearer.”
—Cory Doctorow, Pluralistic

“Do you pay for goods and services with money? You’re probably getting screwed, thanks in large part to technology that allows companies to squeeze every last penny out of you. And if you’d like to learn more about all the ways this is happening, there’s just one book you need to pick up: Gouged: The End of a Fair Price—and What That Means for Your Wallet by Lindsay Owens.”
—Gizmodo

“Gouged is an important piece of the puzzle that helps explain why economic stability seems so elusive.”
—Forbes

“Gouged is a fast read and makes its persuasive case in just 176 pages. . . . Owens uncovered stories and details that were amazingly fresh and powerful. . . . Gouged is particularly helpful for lawmakers looking for ways to constrain the onslaught of anti-competitive pricing tactics . . . The faster we can convert these ideas into legislation, the faster we can reclaim a sense of fairness in our economy.”
—The American Prospect

“Owens, CEO of the Groundwork Collaborative, a leading economic think tank, is determined to arm consumers with information to fight corporate greed . . . [Gouged] is relatable to all readers frustrated with sneaky billing, and they will find it insightful and useful in their daily lives.”
—Booklist (starred review)

“This eye-opening debut sounds the alarm about ‘an epidemic of price gouging . . . supercharged by new technology.’ . . . Lucid and grimly entertaining in its outrage, this is a forceful argument for fairness in the digital marketplace.”
—Publishers Weekly