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>There is a SINGLE driver of price for a is product: how much people will pay for it. That’s it. It's worth noting this is a neoclassical view (if we take it t
by claudiawerner 8y ago
>There is a SINGLE driver of price for a is product: how much people will pay for it. That’s it.
It's worth noting this is a neoclassical view (if we take it to mean supply and demand solely determines the price of a product) but there are other views too (Sraffian, Ricardian and Marxian, for instance, though these are more oriented on value than price). I don't think the quick answer to the question offers enough explanatory power as to why many (most?) people in the market would pay that much for it.
- tehduder9 8y agoAlso the fact that only Apple makes Apple products, as opposed to other Windows/Android computers/laptops/Phones/tablets which have multiple competitors.
- orev 8y agoI’m not trying to answer the question of “why”, just making the point that this is how things are, because much criticism leveled at Apple (and any other tech perceived as overpriced) is based on invalid assumptions of how a fair price is determined. I’ll leave it to the Economists to come up with theories on why.
- claudiawerner 8y agoI'm not sure if we should let the market have a monopoly on deciding what counts as a fair price - there are plenty of instances, though perhaps Apple isn't one, in which goods are so clearly overpriced to the detriment of consumers. Food and water in some areas, for instance. My point is that to say something is fair or unfair means that a judgement is being made, and deferring that judgement to "that's just the way it is, therefore it's fair" isn't to say you're avoid making a statement on fairness, it's to say "my view is that fairness is decided by the market price".
- orev 8y agoI admit my choice of the word “fair” isn’t ideal. I was trying to think of another way to put it. Probably “natural” is a better term.