Book value: intertemporal pricing and quality discrimination in the US market for books

被引:44
作者
Clerides, SK [1 ]
机构
[1] Univ Cyprus, Dept Econ, CY-1678 Nicosia, Cyprus
关键词
intertemporal pricing; price discrimination; quality discrimination; book publishing industry;
D O I
10.1016/S0167-7187(02)00004-8
中图分类号
F [经济];
学科分类号
02 ;
摘要
Publishers produce books in hardcover and paperback versions with different prices and time of market introduction. Analysis of detailed book-level data reveals that (i) price-cost differentials cannot be explained by cost differences, making this an example of quality discrimination; (ii) market introduction time strongly affects sales, suggesting that time is the crucial dimension of discrimination; and (iii) there is substantial price rigidity across books and over time: prices depend on cost shifters but not on demand shifters. I discuss an explanation for this last finding in terms of the nature of demand in this market. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
引用
收藏
页码:1385 / 1408
页数:24
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