Why Popcorn Costs So Much at the Movies: And Other Pricing Puzzles | Richard B. McKenzie

Why Popcorn Costs So Much at the Movies: And Other Pricing Puzzles | Richard B. McKenzie | Should be read by every adult who spends money

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Why Popcorn Costs ...

	Why Popcorn Costs So Much at the Movies: And Other Pricing Puzzles Richard B. McKenzie Springer, 2008 - 328 pages average customer review:based on 9 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Why Popcorn Costs So Much at the Movies, And Other Pricing Puzzles unravels the pricing mysteries we encounter every day.

Have you ever wondered why all movies, whether blockbusters or duds, have the same ticket prices? Why sometimes there are free lunches? Why so many prices end with "9"? Why ink cartridges can cost as much as printers? Why merchants offer sales, coupons, and rebates? Why long lines are good for shoppers? Why men earn more than women, around the globe ? and why they always will?

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.

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WOW!!

Who would have guessed that the price of popcorn, movie tickets, ink cartridges, etc. was so involved? The author does a great job making these complex issues easy for everyone to understand. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to know "why"...
Better then Freakonomics.

Should be read by every adult who spends money

This is the best book available on why things cost what they do. If you're an adult and you spend money this is "must reading". This book explains how the pricing process works and how these processes impact what we pay at the store, at the university, and at the theater.

A wonderful piece of work.

Gary C. Byrne, Ph.D.

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Excellent

I am in the middle of this book, but it desrves are review before I forget. This can be viewed as a book on economic thinking methodology centered around subject of pricing. While the book is not rich in ready conclusions or practical advise on pricing (Strategy and Tactics of Pricing is such a book) it goes much deeper into the economic models that apply to price analysis and gives the student (I mean anyone interested in learning) a broad pallate of mental models that will help understanding economic realities, even beyond pricing. Given that this is all being done without resorting to numbers (though simple mathematical principles are implied in parts) this text gets my 5 stars.

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Informative and interesting

This book explains the surprisingly complex puzzles behind prices for every day things. It simplifies the economics into understandable language.

An Information Treasure Trove --for the Already Informed

--This book tells us more than we ever wanted to know about prices.
--Indeed, here's probably more about prices than we ever thought there was to know!

If you're a casual reader who's just trying to catch up on what's going on around us, the going could be slow and tedious. However, if you're a university prof, serious economics student, or a marketing or merchandising strategist ready to dive below the surface of pricetag information, you'll probably find this book information-stuffed, no doubt interesting...perhaps fascinating, even fun and easy to read.

"Why Popcorn Costs So Much...," valuable as it may be, is just not for a light afternoon's read at the beach. Consider one of McKenzie's opening paragraphs on price adjustment: "One of the unheralded advantages of prices is that through market forces, they capture the advantages and disadvantages of property, in the process giving a market value to the advantages or disadvantages. Prices adjust until buyers are more or less indifferent between properties." [Page 33] --Or an explanation of standard pricing with 9s [as in $4.99]: "From a strictly economic perspective, if there were no cost to buyers considering rightward digits, and there were only gains from allaying the unexpected expense of paying the rightward digits, then there would be no reason for buyers not to consider all digits equally, no matter how high the price. There would be no reason then for the just-below prices...." [Page 183] --Oh, come on, Mr. McKenzie! Isn't there an easier way to say all this!? Re-reading has been SOP for this reader throughout the book.

Occasionally, though, pages do make some sense (topics on coupons, on rebates especially), but this still is not a consumer primer for smart buying. Minor economics tech-talk and cold theory abounds. Never an easy read for the uninitiated, the author seems satisfied explaining things in 40 words when the average consumer-writer might say it in 20. --With one exception: McKenzie (mercifully) includes a section of "Concluding Comments" at the end of each of his 13 chapters, amounting to a nice summary of every chapter's topic. So, here's a hint for the reader: scan or skip over the heart of the chapters and head for the summaries! They're short and understandable. Beyond that, it quickly gets a little more complicated than expected.

--And forget the back cover PR blurb (!) about not needing "a degree in economics to enjoy this fascinating book. Just an armchair and an inquiring mind," it says. True, you won't Need advanced econ to get thru it, but: this surely could be one of the entries on your economics booklist as you trek on toward getting that degree. [Especially if you're registered in Professor McKenzie's class, I suspect.] "Fascinating"? --Overstating it some.

As you "read" this work, note how many times the author refers to "his economics students," and how he's obviously comfortable using lecture-speak in and out of the classroom. He includes a vague chapter on university housing. Too, he offers many references to [presumably university] "textbook pricing." This book is definitely "higher-ed" slanted. Naw...for those not already schooled in some level of economics, it's not an easy/interesting book to get through.

Finally, do ignore McKenzie's current efforts in media interviews to help make this book sound simple, consumer-oriented, reader-friendly. He chuckles his way through some talk-show-host's questions, often providing answers in short quips, quick explanations, and simple clarifications... not even close to how his book is organized. [--And I got this one based on what he said on the radio recently.... Bet the talk-show hosts never read a single page of it.] Matter of fact, the pop-look cover-design (and clever title) invites a fast bookstore buy...but if you'd rather this edition not just collect bookshelf dust, try the library instead/first. It'll likely be found in the business, science or technology section.

--And I'm Still Not Sure why we get nicked big-time for popcorn at the movies. --A generous Two-Stars as a book for the "ordinary" reader, like myself. Four-Stars for the more economically advantaged. It gets a weak Three-Star average.

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