What Is Price Discrimination?

The principal microeconomic issue at work is supply and demand. The author invokes a number of economic theorists (both liberal and conservative) who endorse price gouging out of a belief that it is simply the natural manifestation of a capitalist society that relies on supply and demand. There is a belief that preventing price gouging allows consumers to act with little consequence for their actions. According to this line of thinking, a business is well within its rights to raise prices because they should respond to public demand; at other times, there is little demand, so they are wise to take advantage when there is significant demand. Moreover, economic theorists have argued that price-gouging is positive because it makes people question whether the item they are considering purchasing

Some governments provide subsidies that provide an unfair advantage and prices lower than market conditions which affects the functioning of airline industries directly and Global

I have experienced third- degree price discrimination in the form of receiving a military discount of 10% on all purchases I make a Lowe’s home improvement stores. This form of price of price discrimination qualifies as third-degree price discrimination due to the fact that it applies only to a certain group active, honorably discharged veterans, their spouses, and their children 18 years of age and younger. This is a positive form of price discrimination for this group of purchasers, and being able to buy the same goods for less money than other purchasers is price discrimination (Sexton, 2012).

Those consumers that have flexibility to choose when they demand a product will benefit from price discrimination. An example of this would be workers that have the ability to take a holiday at short notice might be able to benefit from a heavily discounted price. This is second-degree price discrimination and it can be shown below on the diagram.

Southwest Airlines does not have to be a monopoly to engage in price discrimination. They will need to have a market power, and they cannot be price takers.

However, contenders say that although this could be viewed as predation, it could also be viewed as simply competition. Airlines should be allowed to cut fares and sell extra seats to match that of other airlines. The prosecution must first be able to prove intent. Since businesses can reduce prices simply because costs have fallen, it is difficult to provide concrete evidence of businesses cutting prices due to predatory

Small business customers and leisure travelers were the ones benefited the most from American’s new fare structure. Previously, small business customers who does not have the power and volume to negotiate with airline companies for discounted deals had to pay higher rates for first-class or coach tickets. American’s new cost structure reduced the full coach fares which allowed small business customers to purchase flight tickets at cheaper prices more conveniently. Leisure travelers, unlike business travelers, have more flexibility in terms of travel dates, thus allowing them to take advantage of the advance-purchase discounts and Saturday-night stay discounts under the new fare system.

Individuals encounter price discriminations on an almost daily basis, whether realizing it or not. Considering that many fast food chains off discounts to seniors, one could possibly pay the regular price and not even think of the possibility of a discount. Price discrimination can be described as identical services or goods being sold at different prices by one single provider (Sexton, 2013). Therefore, each time a person shops at Goodwill, he or she has the opportunity of a reduced cost providing stipulations are met such as being a student, senior, or military. In order to meet the qualification of price discrimination, three points are provided. First, the organization must provide a good or service that is not offered by other organizations, establishing a monopoly. Secondly, the elasticities of demand have to be prevalent, and, and thirdly, stipulations have to be enforced in order to prevent reselling of the product or service for a profit.

* Competition. Other airlines have started using the same strategies, this allows them too possibly under cut prices and with a lower overhead have less risk than AA would have.

The domestic US airline industry has been intensely competitive since it was deregulated in 1978. In a regulated environment, most of the cost increases were passed along to consumers under a fixed rate-of-return based pricing scheme. This allowed labor unions to acquire a lot of power and workers at the major incumbent carriers were overpaid. After deregulation, the incumbent carriers felt the most pain, and the floodgates had opened for newer more nimble carriers with lower cost structures to compete head-on with the established airlines. There were several bankruptcies followed by a wave of consolidation with the fittest carriers surviving and the rest being

When they didn’t, the airline retaliated by offering deep cuts in fares on several routes flown by its competitors. Northwest airline responded with a $198 round-trip fares with connections on routes for which American airline’s average fare was $1,600. American’s response was to offer $99 one way fairs in 10 markets flown by each of the other competitors except that of Continental Airlines which had followed and matched the leader’s (American Airline) original changes in all markets. With respect to the concept of strategic behavior exhibited by firms in an oligopolistic setting, some firms may try to achieve a dominant strategy that yields them better results and do not flip-flop, no matter what strategies other industry participant follow. This was illustrated in the case, when, in 2004, Continental Airlines raised its fares to mitigate rising cost of aviation fuel. Firms in an oligopoly may differ in terms of their cost structure and the airline industry is no exception and participants do exhibit strategies that enable them not to follow price increases driven by aviation fuel cost.

A drop in fares has been the best result of the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978. It has been the impetus for the increase in the number of flights, which in turn has spurred a drive for greater safety in airlines. But with the current airline market, this development has given us one negative. Since ticket prices have dropped to new lows, the realities of an industry which operates on such economies of scale dictates that only a few competitors have the capacity to operate within the market. This is not the desired effect of either political side on this issue, but it is an economic necessity with the environment that has been created, very similar to that of public utilities and phone companies.

3,4- The Airline industry and the market The airline industry is large, specially in the United States, mainly due to the “ Deregulation” of the industry. In 1938, the Civil Aeronautics Board was created to control the growth of the air transportation industry. This board had the authority to control entry, exit, prices and methods of competition. In the late 1970 this structure was found inefficient and in 1978 deregulation took place. Due to the deregulation of the industry competition intensified, prices dropped, and the number of people travelling increased. Many new companies emerged and regional airlines saw deregulation as an opportunity to expand. Due to the rise in competition, by 1986 mergers started to take place and in 1987 64.8% of the market was controlled by the four largest airlines. The demand for air travel is determined mainly by price, studies revealed that half of the leisure travellers and on quarter of business travellers did not have a preference for a particular airline, which means that prices determined the

Price discrimination can be defined as when the same good or service is sold at different prices to different consumers. If we look at this definition of price discrimination, for an example, we can show that price discrimination can be seen in the entrance tickets of parks such as Universal studios; this is due to the fact that there are discounts for children and senior citizens. (Phlips L. , 1983) However, this can be seen as not being discriminative at all due to the fact that if the price difference full reflects the difference in the cost of carrying the good from the seller’s location to the buyers’ location.

Quite often, consumers purchase goods and services based on their perceived need. Upon making the decision that a need is present and a solution is available consumers are more equipped to react to that need. Although previously perceived that consumers will normally accept prices as presented by suppliers that remains to not be the case. Consumers assess and process prices based on past purchases and other psychological process they went through previously such as persuasive marketing strategies, accessibility of the goods or services and possibly information gathered from prior purchasers of a product. There are countless options that are available to consumers. Consumers are then faced with the choice of choosing the product that best fulfills their need at that given point. Consumers who are knowledgeable regarding prices will be aware of the approximated price for products (Zhao, Zhao & Deng, 2015).