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Why Does Popcorn Cost So Much at the Movies? An Empirical Analysis of Metering Price Discrimination

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Author Info
Gil, Ricard (U of California, Santa Cruz)
Hartmann, Wesley R. (Stanford U)

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Abstract

Prices for goods such as blades for razors, ink for printers and concessions at movies are often set well above cost. This paper empirically analyzes concession sales data from a chain of Spanish theaters to demonstrate that high prices on concessions reflect a profitable price discrimination strategy often referred to as "metering price discrimination." Concessions are found to be purchased in greater amounts by customers that place greater value on attending the theater. In other words, the intensity of demand for admission is "metered" by concession sales. This implies that while some consumers' surplus may be reduced by the high concession prices, surplus of other consumers on the margin of attending may increase from theaters' decisions to shift their margins away from movies and toward concessions.

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Paper provided by Stanford University, Graduate School of Business in its series Research Papers with number 1983.

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Date of creation: Jan 2008
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Handle: RePEc:ecl:stabus:1983

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  1. Peltzman, Sam, 2005. "Aaron Director's Influence on Antitrust Policy," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 48(2), pages 313-30, October.
  2. Rosen, Sherwin & Rosenfield, Andrew M, 1997. "Ticket Pricing," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 40(2), pages 351-76, October.
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  3. Meghan Busse & Marc Rysman, 2005. "Competition and Price Discrimination in Yellow Pages Advertising," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 36(2), pages 378-390, Summer.
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  4. Glenn Ellison, 2004. "A Model of Add-on Pricing," Economics Working Papers 0049, Institute for Advanced Study, School of Social Science. [Downloadable!]
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  5. Ronald L. Goettler & Phillip Leslie, 2005. "Cofinancing to Manage Risk in the Motion Picture Industry," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 14(2), pages 231-261, 06. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Shepard, Andrea, 1991. "Price Discrimination and Retail Configuration," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(1), pages 30-53, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Julie Holland Mortimer, 2007. "Price Discrimination, Copyright Law, and Technological Innovation: Evidence From The Introduction of DVDs," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 122(3), pages 1307-1350, 08. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Ron Borzekowski & Raphael Thomadsen & Charles Taragin, 2005. "Competition and price discrimination in the market for mailing lists," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2005-56, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.). [Downloadable!]
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