Hardcover Books The marginal cost of printing a typical hard cover novel is $12.00 while the same book in paperback has a marginal cost of $2.00 lower. So why do publishers charge an average of $15 more for hard cover books?


Hard cover versus paperback is used as a price discrimination scheme. Paperback versions usually come many months after the hard cover version. Customers who really like a particular author are more demand inelastic and tend to be impatient for the next book. This way the publishers can extract a higher price from the inelastic customers before they charge a lower price to the more elastic segment of demand.

Economics

You might also like to view...

Gold mining and the supply of gold depends not only on its price but also on the market rate of interest

a. True b. False Indicate whether the statement is true or false

Economics

The Ability-to-pay Principle

What will be an ideal response?

Economics

The federal funds rate is set directly by the Fed.

a. true b. false

Economics

Because the monopolist is the sole producer of a good, it can never incur a loss.

Answer the following statement true (T) or false (F)

Economics