Why Popcorn Costs So Much at the Movies

And Other Pricing Puzzles
2008. Auflage 2008
ISBN: 978-0-387-76999-8
Verlag: Springer

Buch, Englisch, 326 Seiten, Format (B × H): 168 mm x 245 mm, Gewicht: 1450 g

This entertaining book seeks to unravel an array of pricing puzzles from the one captured in the book’s title to why so many prices end with "9" (as in $2.99 or $179), to why ink cartridges can cost as much as printers, to why stores use sales, coupons, and rebates. Along the way, economist Richard McKenzie explains how the 9/11 terrorists have, through the effects of their heinous acts on the relative prices of various modes of travel, killed more Americans since 9/11 than they killed that fateful day. Professor McKenzie also explains how well-meaning efforts to spur the use of alternative, supposedly environmentally friendly fuels have caused starvation among millions of people around the world and have given rise to the deforestation of rainforests in Malaysia and Indonesia. How can this be? If you think you already have an answer, read on. The solutions to these and other such pricing puzzles are more sophisticated and surprising than you likely now think.

Zielgruppe

Professional/practitioner

Autoren/Hrsg.

McKenzie, Richard B

Fachgebiete

• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Volkswirtschaftslehre Allgemein
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Populärwissenschaftliche Werke
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftswissenschaften: Allgemeines

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Price and the “Law of Unintended Consequences”.- Pricing Lemons, Views, and University Housing.- Why Sales.- Why Popcorn Costs So Much at the Movies.- Why So Many Coupons.- Why Some Goods Are Free.- Free Printers and Pricey Ink Cartridges.- Why Movie Ticket Prices Are All the Same.- Why So Many Prices End with “9”.- The Economics of Manufacturers’ Rebates.- The Psychology and Evolutionary Biology of Manufacturers’ Rebates.- The Question of Queues.- Why Men Earn More on Average than Women—And Always Will.

Über Autor(innen)

Richard McKenzie is the Walter B. Gerken Professor of Enterprise and Society in the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine. He has written a number of books on economic policy, most notably the Microsoft antitrust case in the United States. His latest book, (University of Michigan Press, 2008) challenges the theoretical foundations of antitrust law and enforcement. His commentaries have appeared in national and major regional newspapers in the United States, and he produced an award-winning documentary film, , that has aired across the country on public television. Richard McKenzie is a frequent columnist for