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A Puzzle or a Choice: Uniform Pricing for Motion Pictures at the Box

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  • Chien-Ping Chen

Abstract

Consumer differentiated preferences over movies make the uniform pricing regime at the box office a puzzle in the motion picture business. This paper explores the nature of price rigidity at the current uniform price. It concludes that the high profit mark-up from concession sales helps to retain uniform pricing as the optimal choice for exhibitors, without distributors’ condemned intervention. Unless many successful event movies are expected, tiered pricing over regular and event movies will not benefit either exhibitors or distributors. The criteria for exhibitors to favor tiered pricing and the distributors’ choices to eliminate the agency problem are also developed. Copyright International Atlantic Economic Society 2009

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  • Chien-Ping Chen, 2009. "A Puzzle or a Choice: Uniform Pricing for Motion Pictures at the Box," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 37(1), pages 73-85, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:atlecj:v:37:y:2009:i:1:p:73-85
    DOI: 10.1007/s11293-008-9153-7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Orbach, Barak Y. & Einav, Liran, 2007. "Uniform prices for differentiated goods: The case of the movie-theater industry," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 129-153.
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    8. Barak Orbach, "undated". "Antitrust and Pricing in the Motion Picture Industry," University of Michigan John M. Olin Center for Law & Economics Working Paper Series umichlwps-1009, University of Michigan John M. Olin Center for Law & Economics.
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    Cited by:

    1. Böhme Enrico & Müller Christopher, 2011. "Searching for the Concentration-Price Effect in the German Movie Theater Industry," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 231(4), pages 479-493, August.
    2. Chung, Hoe Sang, 2015. "A Note On Uniform Pricing In The Motion-Picture Industry," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 56(2), pages 231-242, December.
    3. Catherine Gendron-Saulnier & Marc Santugini, 2013. "Noisy Learning and Price Discrimination: Implications for Information Dissemination and Profits," Cahiers de recherche 1335, CIRPEE.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Entertainment; Pricing; Agency problem; D21; L60;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General

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