Transcript Class 3

Class 9
Pricing Models
Cost Plus Pricing
Price Discrimination
Peak Load Pricing
Transfer Pricing
Cost Plus Pricing
Price = AVC + % Mark up
Price = (1+m)*AVC
However:
– If AVC varies with output, the firm needs to
know its output level before it can determine
its price
– Also, it does not imply price stability if costs
are themselves changing, or if there are
demand fluctuations
Cost plus pricing is equal to profit
maximizing pricing if AVC is approximately
constant and mark up is set to a value
The more price inelastic the demand, the
larger mark up is required for profit max.
When competition is high, PED is likely to
be hgh in which mark up is small
Mathematical derivation in the text.
Price Discrimination
Discounts for student or senior citizens
Buy two, get one free
Phone companies charge different rates to businesses
vs. households.
Journals charge different rates to individual subscribers
vs. libraries.
Cellular phone companies charge differently depending
on the # of minutes you plan to talk.
Reward-the-planned discrimination
Usually tickets that are purchased in advance have lower
price
Make-them-pay-for-the-label discrimination
Toyota Corolla and GEO Prizm come off the same production line, but have
different prices. Is this really pricE discrimination - charging different
prices for the same product?
Consumers receiving the label gain status and prestige. Is it the physical
characteristics of a good or its label that determines whether it is the same
product?
Keep-them-in-their-zones discrimination
Prices change between different neighborhoods within the same city.
Sort-by-value-of-time discrimination
Producers supply coupons or rebates to consumers willing to spend the extra
time needed to find and clip them.
• Sort-by-eagerness discrimination
Hardcover books vs. paperbacks.
End-of-season sales.
Types of Price Discrimination
First degree price discrimination: Price per
unit of output depends o the identity of the
purchaser and the number of units
purchased
Second degree price discrimination: Price
depends on the number of units
purchased
Third degree price discrimination: Price
depends on the identity of the purchaser
First Degree Price Discrimination
The condition where market demand
function represents a large number of
consumers
Eachone either buys one unit of good or
abstains from buying alltogether
Reservation price: Maximum price the
consumer is willing to pay
Figure 10.1 First-degree price discrimination
The outcome is superior on allocative efficiency
criteria for the following reasons:
– in the non discriminating case, it is possible to make
someone better off without making anyone worse off
because there is a consumer who is willing to pay a
price for extra unit that would exceed the cost of
producing this extra unit
– With first degree price disc. İt is not possible to make
someone better off withput making anyone worse off
Second Degree Price Disc.
It may not be practical to distinguish
between individuals.
Therefore distinguish by groups and
charge depending on the units sold.
Figure 10.2 Second-degree price discrimination (two-part tariff)
Third Degree Price Discrimination
The monopolist charges different groups
of customers different prices. Price does
not depend on units sold.
Figure 10.3 Third-degree price discrimination
Peak Load Pricing
Demand varies
Peak times and off peak periods
Figure 10.5 Peak-load pricing: full capacity production in both periods