This is one of the very best books on pricing. If you are looking to understand the economics of the world around you, you can do no better than to start here
Why Popcorn Costs So Much at the Movies, And Other Pricing Puzzles unravels the pricing mysteries we encounter every day. Have you ever wondered why all movies, whether blockbusters or duds, have the same ticket prices? Why sometimes there are free lunches? Why so many prices end with "9"? Why ink cartridges can cost as much as printers? Why merchants offer sales, coupons, and rebates? Why long lines are good for shoppers?
The Price is Wrong: Understanding What Makes a Price Seem Fair and the True Cost of Unfair Pricing by Sarah Maxwell
An in-depth look at fair pricing practices and their affect on our everyday lives
Certainly consumers today are concerned about the unfairness of
gasoline prices. And even if these concerns subside, the focus on fair
pricing will shift to other areas such as the unfair costs of health
care, mobile phones, prescription drugs, a college education, real
estate, or hotel rooms. In The Price Is Wrong, pricing expert Sarah
Maxwell explains the psychological and sociological basis of fair
pricing and reveals how this issue affects our everyday lives. Written
in a straightforward and accessible style, this book shows readers how
unfair pricing causes an extreme emotional response. Throughout the
book, Maxwell skillfully explains what makes a price seem wrong, the
social norms of fair pricing, and the true cost of unfair pricing. (Amazon.Com)
Nattily packaged-the cover sports a Roy Lichtensteinesque image of an
economist in Dick Tracy garb-and cleverly written, this book applies
basic economic theory to such modern phenomena as Starbucks' pricing
system and Microsoft's stock values. While the concepts explored are
those encountered in Microeconomics 101, Harford gracefully explains
abstruse ideas like pricing along the demand curve and game theory
using real world examples without relying on graphs or jargon.