Recently, Verizon Wireless ran a pricing trial in order to estimate the elasticity of demand for its services. The manager selected three states that were representative of its entire service area and increased prices by 5 percent to customers in those areas. One week later, the number of customers enrolled in Verizon’s cellular plans declined 4 percent in those states, while enrollments in states where prices were not increased remained flat. The manager used this information to estimate the own-price elasticity of demand and, based on her findings, immediately increased prices in all market areas by 5 percent in an attempt to boost the company’s 2016 annual revenues. One year later, the manager was perplexed because Verizon's 2016 annual revenues were 10 percent lower than those in 2015—the price increase apparently led to a reduction in the company’s revenues. Did the manager make an error? Explain

ECON MICRO
5th Edition
ISBN:9781337000536
Author:William A. McEachern
Publisher:William A. McEachern
Chapter5: Elasticity Of Demand And Supply
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 1.1P: (Calculating Price Elasticity of Demand) Suppose that 50 units of a good are demanded at a price of...
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Recently, Verizon Wireless ran a pricing trial in order to estimate the elasticity of demand for its services. The manager selected three states that were representative of its entire service area and increased prices by 5 percent to customers in those areas. One week later, the number of customers enrolled in Verizon’s cellular plans declined 4 percent in those states, while enrollments in states where prices were not increased remained flat. The manager used this information to estimate the own-price elasticity of demand and, based on her findings, immediately increased prices in all market areas by 5 percent in an attempt to boost the company’s 2016 annual revenues. One year later, the manager was perplexed because Verizon's 2016 annual revenues were 10 percent lower than those in 2015—the price increase apparently led to a reduction in the company’s revenues.

Did the manager make an error? Explain

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