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I’m curious, what are the arguments against making price discrimination illegal? It seems like something the public will push for if companies overplay their h
by bequanna 2y ago
I’m curious, what are the arguments against making price discrimination illegal?
It seems like something the public will push for if companies overplay their hands and start doing this too aggressively.
- lupire 2y agoThe principle of freedom. The principle that poor people are the majority and prefer to pay less for things. The principle that it's better for consumers and producers to engage in trade than to force a business to be unviable.
- master-lincoln 2y agoFreedom to screw people over with intransparency Price discrimination doesn't guarantee cheaper products for poor people. E.g. the same shampoo when labeled for women here costs more. Or say Netflix costs less in some regions that are considered poor, but the rich people there still pay the lesser price. If a business is only viable by extracting the most from every individual instead of finding a fair price, is it really better for society that business exists? What a about the principle of fairness and people being treated equally?
- lotsofpulp 2y ago> What an about the principle of fairness and people being treated equally? Life is not fair from the moment of conception choosing which parents and location you are born to. > If a business is only viable by extracting the most from every individual instead of finding a fair price, is it really better for society that business exists? A buyer buying for the lowest price they can and the seller selling for the highest price they can is the definition of a fair price. Since supply and demand curves are constantly in flux, the fair price is also constantly in flux. Hence the practice of haggling with every vendor in old school markets/bazaars, even for daily vegetables.
- Turing_Machine 2y ago> E.g. the same shampoo when labeled for women here costs more. Hmmm... is it really the "same" shampoo? In my experience, products aimed at women typically have fancier packaging, added scent, and often exotic ingredients (which may or may not have any actual effect). All of those things cost more money. It's like the argument about laundering and pressing women's blouses costing more than men's dress shirts. Men's shirts are more or less standardized, and can be processed using semi-automated equipment, while women's blouses often have lace, ruffles, or other decoration, large fancy buttons, unusual cuts, etc. and have to be pressed by hand.
- Spooky23 2y agoThe principle that it’s better for company management to exploit finance market inefficiencies to yield profit today at the expense of the investors and bond holders caught holding the bag tomorrow.
- scotty79 2y ago> I’m curious, what are the arguments against making price discrimination illegal? Markets work better the more customer knows about a product and the company that provides it. Markets work worse when the company knows more about the customer and the product than the customer that buys it. It's basically extension of market for lemons.
- memen 2y agoWhat do you mean by 'better' and 'worse'? In other words, what is your definition of a good market?
- scotty79 2y agoThe market is better when sum of the economic gain of all actors is greater.
- Spooky23 2y agoWith something like airlines that isn’t always obvious. Is a sustainable airline industry the greatest value? Or is it better to have a boom-bust market where passengers have greater access to travel? It’s not an easy question.
- oytis 2y agoThese look like arguments for making price discrimination illegal? I think alternative to making it illegal could be demanding full disclosure to eliminate information disparity. If a company does it, it should make it clear that it does it, and disclose the price range and criteria to determine your price (the latter can be obfuscated by AI-washing though). It looks like in the EU the requirement to disclose the fact of using personalised pricing alone (without further detail) discourages most of retailers from using it.
- scotty79 2y agoIf you can discriminate on price and gain you know about your customer too much.
- tyingq 2y agoIt's been pretty common in the travel industry for quite a long time. There's pushback every now and then, but generally the "free market" isn't doing much in that regard.
- amadeuspagel 2y agoPrice discrimination ensures that poorer people get stuff cheaper. Price discrimination is why poor people can afford flying today.
- oytis 2y agoSurely it's price discrimination and not the boom of low-cost carriers?
- amadeuspagel 2y agoPrice discrimination is how low-cost carriers make money.
- bryanlarsen 2y agoThe price floor is set by the marginal cost even with price discrimination. That's the same price floor as in a single price system. The poor gain little, if any, from price discrimination.
- amadeuspagel 2y agoPrice discrimimation is only possible with market power, in cases where the single price would not be the marginal cost.
- bryanlarsen 2y agoFirst class is still a thing even on highly competed flights that are well covered by multiple carriers.
- HDThoreaun 2y agoWithout price discrimination airlines would raise prices and not fill their planes. Price discrimination allows them to extract as much as they can which maximizes the number of people who can fly