Tag Archives: price discrimination

Gender-based Price Discrimination

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The Pink Tax refers to the extra cost added to goods that are targeted towards women. Named for the color traditionally used to market products to women, the Pink Tax primarily affects personal hygienic products like razors, hair products, and other beauty products. While these products don’t need to be gendered, marketers tend to target these products based on gender and upcharge women for similar or the same products. Brands have also been known to limit the product size for women in a strategy called ‘pink it or shrink it’. When analyzing products such as deodorant, razors, body wash, and Continue reading Gender-based Price Discrimination→

That’s how much sports cost?

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This is what I blurted out in class, baffled by the high price casually associated with a seat at a basketball game. This got me thinking – what influences the wildly different prices of professional sports tickets? How are the tickets priced? The first price determinant, as we would expect, is the sport itself. For instance, the average NFL ticket is more expensive than an average MBL ticket, which is more expensive than an average NHL ticket. This isn’t too surprising, but what’s interesting is the huge disparity within a given sport. This disparity tends to come from pricing methods, Continue reading That’s how much sports cost?→

Thesis Corner: Lorraine Black on Video Games

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Below I present an interview I had with our very own Lorraine Black, discussing her highly intriguing senior economic thesis. Let’s dive right in! Okay, first couple questions: what was the topic of your thesis, and why did you pick that? The topic of my senior thesis was the economic behavior of consumers that play free-to-play multiplayer online video games. I picked it because it struck me as pretty irrational behavior in a relatively new industry. Also I like video games. Good a reason as any. What were your findings? I conducted a survey of 300 League of Legends players Continue reading Thesis Corner: Lorraine Black on Video Games→

Does it Cost More to be Female?

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It’s common knowledge that there is a disparity between men and women’s wages, but is there also a gap between the prices of products that we buy that serve the same purpose? Products marketed to women and girls on average cost 7% more than identical products sold specifically to men. The reason so many companies are able to do this is that neither gender searches outside products marketed to them, rather they make an economical choice between brands within their gender packaging. Most astonishingly a study found that Target sold three wheel scooters, one red for $24.88, and one pink for Continue reading Does it Cost More to be Female?→

Fitness Apartheid? A moral look at price discrimination

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Fitness Apartheid. That’s right, apartheid. That’s one way the housing market in New York City has been described recently by a tenant. An inflammatory word? Absolutely. Comparing exclusive fitness centers to an entire history of racially based and politically enforced segregation is entirely inappropriate and I don’t support it in the least. However, the housing market in New York is a battle ground and the actions that landlords are taking have become downright offensive. This episode of Freakonomics explores the idea of price discrimination through first class airplane seats, “the poor door”, and yes, an exclusive fitness center. To listen to the episode, Continue reading Fitness Apartheid? A moral look at price discrimination→