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Why popcorn costs so much at the movies : and other pricing puzzles / Richard B. McKenzie.
Lippincott Library HB235.U6 M396 2008
Available
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- McKenzie, Richard B.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Prices--United States.
- Prices.
- United States.
- Pricing--United States.
- Pricing.
- Value.
- Cost and standard of living--United States.
- Cost and standard of living.
- United States--Economic conditions--2001-2009.
- Economic conditions.
- Physical Description:
- xv, 326 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
- Place of Publication:
- New York ; London : Copernicus Books, [2008]
- Summary:
- Richard McKenzie goes on to show how the 9/11 terrorists still kill Americans every day, because their attack distorted the perceived risks and relative prices of air vs. automobile travel, and jacked up both security costs and flight delays. Professor McKenzie also explores the unintended consequences of well-meaning efforts to spur the use of environmentally friendly fuels: starvation among millions of people around the world, and the destruction of rainforests in Malaysia and Indonesia.
- How can these things be? If you think you know the answers, think again. Why Popcorn Costs So Much at the Movies, and Other Pricing Puzzles shows you that the real reasons are sophisticated and surprising - and in Professor McKenzie's hands, both informative and entertaining.
- You won't need a degree in economics to enjoy this fascinating book, just an armchair and an inquiring mind.
- Contents:
- Preface: How Prices Matter V
- Chapter 1 Price and the "Law of Unintended Consequences" 1
- Hybridnomics: HOV-Lane Economics, California Style
- Air Travel Safety for Infants and Toddlers
- 9/11 Terrorists and American Deaths Since 9/11
- Water Crises in Southern California
- Ethanol Subsidies and World Hunger
- The California Electricity Crisis
- Chapter 2 Pricing Lemons, Views, and University Housing 29
- The Pricing of Lemons
- How Prices Adjust to Advantages and Disadvantages of Property
- Why Retirement Does Not Curb the Retirees' Food Consumption
- University Mispricing
- Chapter 3 Why Sales 57
- Price Discrimination Theory
- A Textbook Case of Textbook Price Discrimination
- The Logic of After-Christmas Sales
- Sales and the Economics of Information
- Chapter 4 Why Popcorn Costs so Much at the Movies 79
- Differential Theater Ticket Prices
- Uniform Popcorn Prices
- The High Price of Theater Popcorn
- The Misguided Entrapment Theory of Overpriced Popcorn
- Movie Screening Contract
- The Supreme Court and the High Price of Theater Popcorn
- The Cost of Theater Popcorn-On the Margin!
- Chapter 5 Why so Many Coupons 101
- Coupons and Price Discrimination
- Coupons and Peak-Load Pricing
- Evidence on Couponing
- Coupon Collusion
- The Economics of Information and Coupons
- Chapter 6 Why Some Goods Are Free 113
- Profits from Zero Prices
- The Nature of Products and Pricing Strategies
- The Pricing of Experience Goods
- The Pricing of Network Goods
- Network Effects and the Microsoft Antitrust Case
- Optimum Piracy
- The Pricing of Addictive Goods
- Rational Addiction
- Chapter 7 Free Printers and Pricey Ink Cartridges 143
- Relative Production Costs and Buyer Entrapment
- Low- and High-Volume Printer Users
- The Relevance of Search Costs
- Differences in Discount Rates
- Gaming Printer/Cartridge Deals and Technical and Contract Solutions
- The Evidence on the Relative Prices of Printers and Their Ink Cartridge
- Chapter 8 Why Movie Ticket Prices Are All the Same 159
- Different Price for Different Folks
- The Puzzle of Uniform Ticket Prices at the Movies
- Past Price Variations
- Why Uniform Ticket Prices
- DVD Releases
- Chapter 9 Why So Many Prices End with "9" 177
- Just-Below Prices as Historical Artifact
- Just-Below Pricing and Information Economics
- Psychological Pricing
- Prices as Code
- Chapter 10 The Economics of Manufacturers' Rebates 195
- The Nature of Rebates
- The Reasons for Rebates
- Rebates and Product Demand
- Breakage Economics
- Chapter 11 The Psychology and Evolutionary Biology of Manufacturers' Rebates 211
- Subjective Weighting of Costs and Benefits
- Endowment Effects of Purchases with Rebates
- Salience and Procrastination
- Explanations for People's Observed Decision Making
- Chapter 12 The Question of Queues 233
- Queues as a Pricing Puzzle
- The Easy Solutions for Queues
- The Economic Logic of Queues
- Premium Tickets
- Contrived Shortages and Buyer Loyalty
- Bandwagon Effects and Queues
- Single Versus Multiple Queues
- Last-Come/First-Served, a Solution for Queue Length?
- Chapter 13 Why Men Earn More on Average than Women-and Always Will 263
- Conventional Explanations for Gender-Pay Differences
- A Different Conceptual Framework
- Risky Behavior
- The Linkages Between Mating and Labor Markets
- Explaining the Narrowing Pay Gap
- The Female/Male Wage Gap: Hard Wired or Cultural?
- A Summary Assessment.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 291-317) and index.
- ISBN:
- 9780387769998
- 0387769994
- OCLC:
- 192027294
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