HL 1 Who Pays for Your Coffee?

Who Pays for Your Coffee?
Note:Tema: il valore. Come si fanno i soldi sul mercato? Scarsità + richiesta...Il potere dela scarsità richiesta: sul mercato guadagnano solo consumatori e monopolisti...Vuoi sapere se sei sfruttata? Controlla di che genere è il monopolio che realizza quei profitti x cui paghi...Perchè i pop corn costano di più al cinema? Perchè è lì che i consumatori li vogliono mangiare! Location location location...Chi paga la regolamentazione sulla sicurezza? I consumatori + deboli (i prodotti ideali x loro nn si trovano) o + attenti (i prodotti ideali x loro costano di più). Premiato il consumatore facoltoso e distratto...Gang e Mafia: la violenza crea monopoli. la violenza può essere condannata x motivi etici oppure x' rovina il gioco della competozione e quindi dell'efficienza...Oltre alla violenza ci sono altri modi x eliminare la competizione. Per esempio attraverso i sindacati. Recentemente il metodo è entrato in crisi poichè la competizione è internazionale mentre i sindacati nazionali. Altre volte padroni donamici in espansione e monopsonisti distruggono i sindacati penalizzandoli. Ci sono forme occulte di sindacalizzazione: albi, formazione, patenti...Immigrazione. Gli immigrati ci rubano il posto? Di solito l'immigrazione è vista male dalla popolazione + rozza e bene dalla pop. + raffinata. E nn certo xchè i + rozzi giudichino rozzamente...L'analisi standard: il razzismo è frutto dell' ignoranza, tanto è vero che alligna tra le classi + basse che si oppongono all'immigrazione. L'analisi corretta: vista la matura migratoria è normale che ad opporsi siano le classi basse ma x una questione fi interessi nn di razzismo...La scienza economica è neutrale? Spesso no: il mezzo di analisi influenza il giudizio che diamo del mondo. Gli economisti lottano contro i protezionismi e i sindacati ma lo fanno in nome delle ipotesi sottostanti ai loro modelli...

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1@@@@@@@sfruttamento copetizione e monopolio...immigrazione

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According to economics professor Brian McManus, mark-ups on coffee are around 150 per cent
Note:MARK UP SMISURATI

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So somebody is making a lot of money. Who?
Note:MA I BARISTI NN SI ARRICCHICONO

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location, location, location.
Note:RIPETILO

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simply remember that there are thirteen coffee bar entrepreneurs on one side of the negotiating table and on the other side is a manager who owns a single, perfect coffee-bar site.
Note:CONCORRENZA E MONOPOLIO

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By playing them off against each other, the Network Rail manager should be able to dictate the terms,
Note:Ccccccccc

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if there’s a profitable deal to be done between somebody who has something unique and someone who has something which can be replaced, then the profits will go to the owner of the unique resource.
Note:LA LEGGE

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Strength from scarcity
Note:Tttttttttt

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Bargaining strength comes through scarcity: settlers are scarce and meadows are not, so landlords have no bargaining power.
Note:LA LEGGE DELLA SCARSITÀ

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Why is coffee expensive in London, New York, Washington or Tokyo? The common-sense view is that coffee is expensive because the coffee bars have to pay high rent. David Ricardo’s model can show us that this is the wrong way to think about the issue, because ‘high rent’ is not an arbitrary fact of life. It has a cause.
Note:XCHÈ IN CENTRO MILANO IL CAFFÈ È CARO

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prime coffee-bar locations will command high rents only if customers will pay high prices for coffee. Rush-hour customers are so desperate for caffeine and in such a hurry that they are practically price-blind. The willingness to pay top whack for convenient coffee sets the high rent, and not the other way around.
Note:LA SPIEGA....MONOPOLIO

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Portable models
Note:Ttttttttt

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Economics is partly about modelling, about articulating basic principles and patterns that operate behind seemingly complex subjects like the rent on farms or coffee bars.
Note:COME RAGIONA L ECONOMIA...IL MODELLO DEL COFFEE BUSINESS

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Ricardo’s model is useful for discussing the relationship between scarcity and bargaining strength, which goes far beyond coffee or farming and ultimately explains much of the world around us.
Note:IL MODELLO VINCENTE

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A word of caution is appropriate, though. The simplifications of economic models have been known to lead economists astray.
Note:NELLA TRAPPOLA CADDE RICARDO STESSO

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A unified agricultural sector had nothing to gain from improving the land’s productivity with roads or irrigation, because those improvements would also reduce the scarcity of good land.
Note:APPLICANDO ALLA LETTERA IL SUO MODELLO...ES PERCHÈ COSTRUIRE AUTO SE HO IL MONOPOLIO SU CARROZZE E CAVALLI?

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Ricardo failed to realise that thousands of landlords competing with each other would make different decisions than a single one.
Note:CcccccccccRICCARDO FALLISCE NEL PREVEDERE L INNOVAZIONE NN DISTINGUENDO TRA CONCORRENZA E MONOPOLIO

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If applied correctly, it shows that environmental legislation can dramatically affect income distribution.
Note:COSA CI FA SCOPRIRE IL MODELLO DI RICARDO

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Different reasons for high rent
Note:TttttttttttttttIL MISTERO DEI POPCORN

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why popcorn is so expensive at the cinema – there was no popcorn shortage
Note:I MISTERI

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Let’s say landlords get together and manage to persuade the local sheriff that there should be what in the UK is called a ‘green belt’, a broad area of land around the city on which property development is very strongly discouraged by tough planning regulations.
Note:TORNIAMO A VEDERE COME SI CREANO LE RENDITE...PIANO REGOLATORE

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So we’ve found two reasons why rents might be high. The first is that it’s worth paying a lot for good land, because the grain that good land produces is so valuable. The second is that it’s worth paying a lot for good land because the alternatives that should be available are not.
Note:DUE FATTORI DI RENDITA...PRODUTTIVITÀ E REGOLE

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effect is to transfer a massive amount of money from London tenants to London landlords:
Note:UN EFFETTO DEL PIANO REGOLATORE

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it is important that when we are weighing the pros and cons of legislation like the Green Belt, we understand that its effects are more than simply to preserve the environment.
Note:QUESTA NN È UNA CRITICA AI PIANI MA...

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improvements in the quality and price of the commuter train services that bring people into London’s mainline stations,
Note:UNA MALEDIZIONE X I PROPRIETARI

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The answer is that improved public transport increases the alternatives to renting a place in the city.
Note:Cccccccccccc

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Are we being ripped off?
Note:Tttttc è mo nopolio e monopolio

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How can we tell the difference between things that are expensive because they are naturally scarce, and things that are expensive because of artificial means – legislation, regulation or foul play?
Note:NATURA E REGOLE

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Without perpetrating too much intellectual violence, we can replace ‘rent’ with ‘profit’
Note:RENDITA E PROFITTO

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a ‘sustainable competitive advantage’, meaning the sort of edge over the competition that will produce profits year in and year out.
Note:PROFITTO MERITATO SUL MERCATO

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The newspapers often point to high corporate profits as a sign that the consumer is being screwed. Are they right? Only sometimes.
Note:C È PROFITTO E PROFITT

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But high profits are not always earned so fairly; sometimes the newspaper outrage is justified. There’s a second explanation for high corporate profits. What if a kind of banking ‘green belt’ completely excluded Cornelius’s bank from the market?
Note:I PROFITTI DA REGOLAMENTAZIONE

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If I want to know whether I am being ripped off by supermarkets, banks or drug companies, I can find out how profitable those industries are. If they are making high profits, then initially I am suspicious. But if it seems that it is fairly easy to set up a new company and compete, I become less suspicious. It means that the high profits are caused by a natural scarcity: there are not many really good banking organisations in the world, and good banking organisations are much more efficient than bad ones.
Note:UN CRITERIO XGIUDICARE LO SFRUTTAMENTO

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Resource ‘rents’
Note:Ttttttttttttttt

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people who like to avoid competition
Note:IL CATTIVO

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Trade unions, lobby groups, people studying for a professional qualification
Note:CHI OPERA IN VISTA DI MONOPOLI

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‘rent-seeking’.
Note:Ccccccccccc

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It’s not easy to do this. It turns out that the world is a naturally competitive place,
Note:X FORTUNA...TUTTO COMPETE CON TUTTO

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farmland.
Note:I GRANDI MONOPOLI DEL PASSATO

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oil.
Note:Ccccccccc

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Until 1973, the world’s oil supply was produced by ‘oil meadows’, largely in the Middle East.
Note:STORIA DEL PETROLIO

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The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, which was sitting on most of the oil meadows, decided in 1973 to take some of its own meadows out of commission, by ordering each member country to restrict oil production.
Note:1974

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short run
Note:Ttttttt

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To keep prices high, OPEC was forced to accept a smaller and smaller share of the world oil market. Eventually Saudi Arabia broke ranks in 1985 and expanded production.

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FINE

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In the last couple of years we have been tripped up by a combination of unexpectedly high demand in China with disruptions in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Nigeria and Venezuela,
Note:SVILUPPI DELL IMPENNATA RECENTE

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When does crime pay?
Note:Tttttt

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people have to find other ways to prevent competition. One popular method is through violence,
Note:VIOLENZA E MONOPOLIO

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Drug dealers prefer not to have competitors driving down the price of drugs.
Note:ESEMPIO

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if you’re risking prison anyway, there is little point in using half measures.
Note:GIÀ CHE SIAMO CRIMINALI

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the ‘foot-soldiers’ sometimes take home as little as $1.70 an hour. Promotion prospects are good, considering the rapid turnover of gang membership (people leave, or get killed, quite often); but even considering these prospects, the average wage is less than $10 an hour. This is not much given that over a four-year period, the typical gang member can expect to be shot twice, arrested six times and has a one-in-four chance of being killed.
Note:SOLO LA PROSPETTVA DI UN MONOPOLIO FA TIRARE AVANTI

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Mafia groups often get involved in legitimate businesses, such as wholesale laundry, which can make big profits only if entry is deterred.
Note:DETERRENZA

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Mafia provides overpriced laundry services to restaurants as a way of extorting money.
Note:Ccccccccc

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‘Conspiracies against the laity’

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it does not mean that people have not worked out other ways to keep competitors at bay. Trade unions are an obvious example.
Note:METODI LEGALI X ESCLUDERE

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Without unionisation, wages could be kept very low. With it, competition could be excluded and wages would rise
Note:Ccccccc

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anti-trust laws designed to prevent collusion between large companies were also directed against unions. But as the political climate changed, these laws were ruled inapplicable and trade unions grew in strength.
Note:Cccccccc

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When unions are perceived as making unreasonable demands, causing prices to rise to a level that’s deemed unacceptable by a large portion of the public, the public in turn puts pressure on politicians to regulate the unions.
Note:Ccccccccc

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Sometimes the unions have their scarcity challenged by international competition,
Note:IL NEMICO DEI SINDACATI

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teachers’ wages were kept low for years – and declining relative to average earnings – in spite of the fact that there was a shortage of qualified teachers. This is because the government, the single employer, has massive bargaining power.
Note:INSEGNANTI

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And now for something controversial
Note:Ttttttttt immigrazione

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do immigrants steal our jobs?
Note:PROBLEMA

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Well-educated workers
Note:UN GRUPPO DI LAVORATOEI

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tend to welcome immigration as part of an enriching process

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Ccccccc

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poorly educated workers tend to reject any further immigration by unskilled immigrants on the grounds that ‘they steal our jobs’.
Note:SECONDO GRUPPO

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As one of those skilled workers I dislike resistance to immigrants and would like to see more immigration.
Note:CONFLITTO INTERESSE

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If the country is short of unskilled shelf-stackers, their wages will have to rise to attract people into the job. But if the country is short of skilled managers and full of unskilled shelf-stackers, I’ll be paid well for my scarcity value,
Note:DOV È LA SCARSITÀ RELATIVA?

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Some blame resistance to immigration on the racism of the unedu cated. An alternative, and more convincing, theory suggests that everybody is acting in his own self interest. New workers are good for people who have assets that become relatively scarcer,
Note:TESI SULLE SIMPATIE IMMAGRIZIONISTE

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In the UK, the salaries of nurses in the National Health Service have been kept low by the influx of thirty thousand foreign nurses;
Note:ES PRECLARO

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What should economists do?

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Some economists would claim that there is no difference between their analysis of coffee rents and their analysis of immigration. In an important sense, that’s true. Economics is in many ways just like engineering; it will tell you how things work and what is likely to happen if you change them.
Note:UNA VISIONE SEMPLICISTICA

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economists often step beyond their role as engineers of economic policy and become advocates. David Ricardo, for example, was an early campaigner for free trade.
Note:NN SEMPRE OGGETTIVI GLI ECONOMISTI

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repeal of the Corn Laws, which severely restricted the import of grain.
Cccccccccccc

HL 4 Crosstown Traffic ESTERNALITA'

4 Crosstown Traffic
Note:traffico: dove il mercato manca o è imperfetto

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4@@@@@@@@

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why did I spend two hours stuck in traffic on the way to work this morning?
Note:PROBLEMI QUOTIDIANI DI UN MONDO SENZA MERCATI

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The obvious answer is that, of course, there is no market perfect
Note:CHIARO

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because perfect markets provide such a clear benchmark, economists find it much easier to start from them
Note:METODO DI LAVORO X RISOLVERE I PROBLEMI

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What’s wrong with my world
Note:tttttttttt

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Markets fail to work well in the face of scarcity power,
Note:I DIFETTI DEL MERCATO... MONOPOLIO... PRIMO

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market is dominated by a single company, Microsoft,
Note:ES NEL SOFTWARE

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lack information.
Note:SECONDO

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I would leave my doctor’s surgery with no idea whether he had given me good treatment,
Note:ESEMPIO DI ASIMMETRIA

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if some people make decisions that affect bystanders:

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TERZO ESYERNALITÀ...CE NE OCCUPEREMO QUI

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‘market failures’:
Note:I TRE GRANDI PROBLEMI

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How drivers affect bystanders
Note:Ttttttttttttttt

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London’s current air pollution is not as severe as the ‘Great Stink’ of the 1850s,
Note:AMMETIAMOLO

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Around seven thousand people a year die prematurely because of traffic pollution in Britain,
Note:VITTIME

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the cost of delays from congestion are even worse,
Note:MA C È DI PIÙ

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Then there is the noise, the accidents and the ‘barrier effect’,
Note:ALTRO

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Different kinds of prices: marginal and average
Note:Ttttttttttt

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paid a sizeable annual tax called ‘Vehicle Excise Duty’.
Note:L USO DELL AUTO NN È GRATIS

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Petrol and diesel are also taxed
Note:ALTRI ADDEBITI ALL AUTOMOBILISTA

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Britain, drivers pay over £30 billion in taxes on cars
Note:NEL COMPLESSO

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To ask ‘have they paid enough?’ is to ask the wrong question. The right question is, ‘are they paying for the right things?’ The answer is no.
Note:LA DOMANDA GIUSTA

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The average price that a driver pays for a journey across a city is quite high if the driver is paying an annual licence fee.
Note:CI SONO DUE PREZZI...ECCO IL PRIMO

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the price that the driver pays for one extra trip across the city is low:
Note:SECONDO

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Once you’ve paid for the right to take the car on the street in the first place, you don’t get a discount for low mileage:
Note:IN SINTESI

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When I was in college, clubs and societies used to have big parties where some people didn’t drink at all and, less surprisingly, most people drank far too much. This was because there were two types of ticket. ‘Alcoholic’ tickets allowed unlimited boozing after payment of an up-front fee of, say, £10. The other type of ticket was a lot cheaper, and you had to drink rancid orange juice instead and stand in a corner while the drinkers got more and more obnoxious. Turning up and having a couple of beers was a pretty expensive proposition,
Note:BUFFET E PREZZO MEDIO

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IL PROB DELLE FESTE

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(a) raising the up-front fee for drinking?, (b) buying better orange juice? or (c) scrapping the up-front fee and charging people for what they drank?
Note:LE TRE SOLUZIONI

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(a) raise the upfront fee for driving; (b) supply better ‘orange juice’ (more buses, better trains, cycle routes, pedestrian crossings); or (c) scrap the up-front fee and charge people for the trips they drive.
Note:LE TRE SOLUZIONI NEL CASO DEL TRAFFICO

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Pricing should reflect the damage
Note:Tttttttttttttttttt

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In most European countries, drivers do pay a tax per mile in the form of a high tax on fuel.
Note:STIAMO SEMPLIFICANDO

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but it is the commuters in the London, New York or Paris rush hours who are causing the most serious congestion,
Note:NN TUTTE LE BENZINE SONO UGUALI

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The trick is to mimic perfect markets by getting drivers to pay all of the costs of their actions:
Note:LA SOLUZIONE

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Two objections to externality charges
Note:Tttttttttttttttttt

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the pro-car lobby argues that drivers pay enough,
Note:PRIMA CONTESTAZIONE

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the rich will still be able to do whatever it was that was objectionable.
Note:ALTRA OBIEZIONE

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it is just as true that the rich can afford to eat more than the poor.
Note:NATURAL

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if you accept the workings of the price system for typical goods like food, why not road space or clean air?
Note:Ccccccccccccccc

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in the United Kingdom, poor people do not drive – they bicycle, walk or take the bus.
Note:REDISTRIB IN SENSO GIUSTO

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in the United States, where the poor still drive a lot
Note:PURTROPPO

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externality charges can be designed not to redistribute very much.
Note:TENERE CONTO DEL VEICOLO

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they feel that pollution should simply be illegal, rather than illegal for the poor
Note:CERTI AMBIENTALISTI

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A partial response is to say that even the rich do not pollute for fun.
Note:PRIMA RISPOSTA

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A congestion charge can be set at £1 a day, or £10 a day or £1000 a day.
Note:SECONDA RISPOSTA

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government could give everybody vouchers, which allow them to drive up to twenty miles per week. The immediate result of such a plan is that some people, mostly poor, would want to sell their vouchers to others, mostly rich:
Note:I VOUCHER NN AFFRONTANO LA CRITICA

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Other alternatives such as high parking charges are probably less efficient still,
Note:ALTERNATIVE INEFFICIENTI

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the relationship between driving and parking is rather indirect.
Note:Ccccccccc

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How much is your life worth?
Note:Tttttttt

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the level of any externality charge is bound to be a matter for controversy.
Note:IL PROBLEMA CANONICO

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a different charge, which would be imposed for every trip,
Note:NECESSARIO

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That sounds complicated.
Note:Ccccc SUV...VEICOLI PESANTI...VEICOLI INQUINANTI...INQ LOCALE..GW...

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imagine each car having a little computer
Note:SOLUZIONE SCATOLA NERA

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But there is another difficulty: working out what the costs of the externalities really are.
Note:QUI SÌ CHE COMINCIANO LE DIFFICOLTÀ

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Every policy the government adopts, and every individual choice you make, implies that a valuation has been made,
Note: È DA Invece USI PENSARE DI SCAMPARE A QS PROBLEMI

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If you pay more to avoid a noisy area when you rent a flat or a hotel room,
Note:ES

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Should the government install extra street signs and markings, or spend more money on speed cameras,
Note:ALTRO ES

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Economists have a theory of ‘revealed preference’,
Note:LA COSA MIGLIORE È GUARDARE AI COMP REALI

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House prices contain embedded information about the value people place on all kinds of amenities: shops, greenery, low crime, quiet, the sun through the window in the morning and so on.
Note:FONTI INCORPORATE

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wages can reveal information if there is a salary differential for jobs with very similar skill requirements but different levels of danger.
Note:ALTRA FONTE

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Two different gaps in our knowledge
Note:Tttttttttttttttt

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we also do not know the cheapest way of reducing noise, accidents, pollution and congestion. It is with this second gap that externality pricing comes into its own.
Note:L IGNORANZA CHE LA TASSA PREZZO PRENDE DI PETTO...IL VERO VANTAGGIO DELLA SOLUZIONE PIGOU

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The New Orleans effect
Note:Ttttttttttttttt

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dingy houses in response to the policy, in force from 1696 to 1851, of taxing people according to the number of windows their homes had.
Note:LE CASE DELLA PERIFERIA INGLESE

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Congestion charging can change the small decisions we make every week about whether to drive to a supermarket, or catch the bus, or walk to a local store or buy food on the internet.
Note:LA TASSA LAVORA SUL PICCOLO E SI ESPANDE

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There’s also a domino effect here, as changes in behaviour reinforce each other.
Note:CONTAGIO

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If more people try to save the congestion charge by working at home a couple of days a week or commuting at a different time of day, more companies will find ways of accommodating them.
Note:ESEMPIO

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The attractive thing about externality pricing is that it attacks the problem but makes no assumption about the solution.
Note:IL BELLO È CHE NOI NN CONOSCIAMO LA SOLUZIONE

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After a year, car journeys fell by nearly a third.
Note:2003 LONDON INTRODUCE LA TASA...REAZIONE VELOCE

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Battling pollution on the cheap
Note:Ttttttttttttttttt

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In the 1990s the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States discovered how cost-effectively an externality charge could fight pollution when it decided to attack acid rain.
Note:UN ESPERIENZA POSITIVA...INQUINAMENTO DA SOLFURI

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They set up an auction for the right to emit sulphur dioxide, which causes acid rain. Polluters were given a quota
Note:ASTA X CAPIRE IL VALORE

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When the EPA simply tried to tell them to install sulphur scrubbers, the power generators argued that it would be very expensive to do so,
Note:DICEVANO PLA VERITÀ

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The regulators discovered that getting rid of sulphur dioxide was so cheap that few people were willing to pay much for the right to
Note:LA SCOPERTA GRAZIE ALLE ASTE

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There is massive controversy about how much emission reduction will cost, but an auction of permits to extract oil, coal and gas would soon start to tell us.
Note:PARALLELO

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many economists believe that, like sulphur permits in California, the carbon permits would quickly reveal that decarbonisation is cheaper than we expected,
Note:PRONOSTICI

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Is the environment too important to be a moral issue?
Note:Ttttttttttttttt

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‘How did you travel here today? We need to know for our carbon offset programme.’
Note:UNA QUESTIONE MORALE O PRAGMATICA?

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Why would an environmental charity organise a carbon-neutral meeting?
Note:CHE C ENTRANO LORO?

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In other words, why be ‘carbon-neutral’ when you can be ‘carbon-optimal’,
Note:IL QUESITO DELL ECONOMISTA

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An unkind view would be that it was indulging in moral posturing.
Note:VANITÀ?

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an environmental charity can be directly connected to the fact that public policies do not make evident the environmental costs of our actions.
Note:UN IPOTESI

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Which is worse: disposable nappies (which clog up landfill sites) or washable nappies (where the washing process uses electricity and releases polluting detergents)?

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COL MORALISMO CI SI FICCA FIOCA N UN GINEPRAIO

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Electricity generation that contributed to climate change would be taxed, too, which would raise electricity prices unless we could develop cleaner fuels.
Note:FORSE È UNA QS REDISTRIBUTIVA

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Being positive
Note:Ttttttttttttttttt

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If Belinda opens an attractive pavement café, the streets are more pleasant to walk along,
Note:ESTERNALITÀ POSITIVE

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Just as negative externalities will tend to lead to too much pollution or congestion, positive externalities will leave us undervaccinated with scruffy neighbours and a dearth of pleasant cafés.
Note:BELINDA FALLISCE

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instead of an externality charge, an externality subsidy.
Note:SOLUZIONE SIMMETRICA

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Vaccinations, for example, are often subsidised by governments or by aid agencies; scientific research, too, usually gets a big dose of government funding.
Note:ESEMPI

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Too much of a good thing? Solving externalities without the government
Note:Tttttttttttttt

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I may complain about my neighbour’s tree damaging my wall, but if it really bothers me I can pay him to let me cut it down.
Note:COASE

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Externalities simply aren’t externalities if people can easily get together and negotiate.
Note:TRANSAZIONI

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the positive externality has been dealt with twice over, once by a government subsidy and once by a process of bargaining.
Note:UN PROBLEMA

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If the government taxes my neighbour’s dirty petrol-driven lawnmower and I also offer to pay him to get rid of it because I dislike the noise and smell, the combination of the taxes and my own offer may persuade him to ditch the monster, even though the fun and convenience he gets from the thing outweigh any damage to anybody else and he really should be keeping it.
Note:UN CASO

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Government-imposed externality charging is far more likely to be appropriate in situations where a negotiation over the externality will not work, as in the case of the noise from low-flying aircraft.
Note:QUANDO DEVE INTERVENIRE IL GOVERNO

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Epilogue: what is economics really about?
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A pollution tax might well make a number like GDP smaller. But who cares? Certainly not economists. We know that GDP measures lots of things that are harmful (sales of weapons, shoddy building
Note:CHI SI LAMENTA DELLE TASSE

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Most economics has very little to do with GDP. Economics is about who gets what and why.
PESANTE!!!!

INQUINAMENTO IN DISCOTECA

INQUINAMENTO IN DISCOTECA
Quando ero giovane, in discoteca si organizzavano delle feste penose in cui alcune persone non bevevano affatto e, meno sorprendentemente, la maggior parte della gente si ammazzava con l’alcol. Questo perché c'erano solo due tipi di biglietti all’ingresso: i biglietti "alcolici", che consentivano un numero illimitato di bevute, e quelli “astemi”, che costavano meno della metà e ti consentivano di bere giusto un succo d'arancia rancido e stare in un angolo mentre i bevitori diventavano sempre più fastidiosi. Girare rilassati con un paio di birre era costosissimo.
Come si sarebbe potuto migliorare la situazione? Tre proposte:
(a) Aumentando il costo del biglietto alcolico?,
(b) Mettendo a disposizione un succo d'arancia migliore?
(c) Non facendo pagare all’ingresso e addebitando le bevute?
Lo stesso problema si pone oggi con le auto, il traffico e l’inquinamento. Al momento stiamo facendo pagare un salato biglietto d’ingresso a chi vuole diventare automobilista (tassa di possesso, eccetara). Come migliorare la festa?
(a) Aumentando il biglietto d’ingresso (tassa di possesso) per macchine inquinanti?
(b) Fornendo un "succo d'arancia" migliore (più autobus, treni migliori, piste ciclabili, attraversamenti pedonali)?

(c) Rottamando la quota iniziale (tassa di possesso) e addebitando i singoli viaggi fatti?

Il gioco delle tre carte

Il libero mercato è meraviglioso poiché realizza ogni momento il miracolodello scambio: una delle poche attività umane dove quasi sempre tutti ci guadagnano.

Lo scambio è il contrario della stupidità, ovvero quella roba che danneggia tutti. Ma si contrappone anche alla guerra: quell’interazione dove, se va bene, ci guadagna una sola delle parti coinvolte.

In questo senso il mercato puo’ ben dirsi il contrario della politica.

Tuttavia, quando tutti ci guadagnano il problema diventa: come guadagnare di più?

Sul mercato per guadagnare più della controparte esiste un metodo sicuro, almeno se siete il venditore: il gioco delle tre carte.

Non conosco un venditore professionista che non lo usi.

Il nome “scientifico” del gioco delle tre carte è “discriminazione di prezzo”, il nome figo del gioco delle tre carte è “cross-subsidiation”.

Avete appena messo mano al portafoglio (negozio, ristorante, cinema, edicola, aeroporto, ferrovie, noleggio…) e i conti non vi tornano? Oppure non riuscite a spiegarvi bene qualcosa? Vi sentite soddisfatti ma anche un po’ straniti?

Il motivo è sempre quello: siete stati sottoposti al  gioco delle tre carte.

La responsabile è sempre lei: la discriminazione di prezzo.

Anche se la conosci non riuscirai mai ad evitarla, tuttavia vale la pena di conoscerla un po’ meglio tanto per capire di che (dolce) morte si muore tutti i giorni.

***

Al bar il caffè costa 1 euro.

Ma io lo pagherei anche 2, specie oggi.

Se il barista mi addebitasse 2 euro sarebbe un vero affarista poiché io pagherei senza fiatare e lui guadagnerebbe il doppio. Ma lui non lo fa.

Evidentemente, se lo facesse, perderebbe gran parte della sua clientela che evidentemente non ha i miei gusti.

D’altronde, non puo’ esporre un cartello in cui si dice: “caffè 2 euro (1 euro per chi non è disposto a pagare di più)”.

Forse domani sarà possibile vedere cartelli siffatti perché alla porta d’ingresso ci sarà una macchina scanner neuronale che dirà chi è disposto a pagare il caffè 2 euro. Il cartello sarà di questo tenore. “caffè: 2 euro per chi entrando accende la luce rossa; 1 euro per chi accende la luce verde”.

Ma oggi una macchina scanner neuronale del genere non esiste per cui bisogna inventarsi qualcos’altro per discriminare i clienti e fare affari.

Il marchingegno oggi a disposizione dei negozianti è il gioco delle tre carte. Senza gioco delle tre carte molti esercizi chiuderebbero domani, parlo dei negozietti di paese come dei colossi del web. Come funziona?

Basta creare diverse combinazioni di prodotti e venderle ognuna separatamente col suo prezzo.

Il concetto di fondo è questo: visto che sei già qui ed hai concluso un affarone, perché non concludi anche un affarino? Il non-detto: così io chiudo due affari anziché uno.

Pensate solo alle combinazioni possibili con tre prodotti. Ci sono i tre prodotti venduti separatamente, poi c’è la tripletta, e infine ci sono tre possibili coppie.

Ogni coppia è presentata come un’occasione rispetto alla vendita singola e la tripletta come una super occasione rispetto al prodotto singolo e come un’ occasione semplice rispetto alle coppie.

Ordinate da McDonald’s e capirete cosa intendo.

Attraverso molteplici combinazioni il cliente meno attento va in confusione, ma lo scopo è un altro: formare dei gruppi nella clientela in modo da procedere a trattamenti differenziati. Nelle combinazioni, di solito, c’è come un prodotto-guida che ha questa funzione.

Cosa intendo? Meglio fare un esempio, però solo due prodotti, altrimenti vado in confusione anch’io.

Prendiamo allora due prodotti: 1) il giornale e 2) il libro.

Poniamo che il giornale costi 1 euro e la combinazione giornale+libro 1.50. Il libro da solo costa invece 0.7.

Ammettiamo che per me potenziale acquirente il giornale valga da solo 1.50 e il libro 0.20.

Se compro solo il giornale (affare A) guadagno 0.5. Se compro la combinazione (affare B) guadagno invece 0.2 (1.50+0.2-1.50).

L’affare A è migliore dell’affare B ma nella fretta – specie se non sono un cliente molto attento – potrei confondermi e concludere l’affare B.

Cosa facilità questa “confusione”? Il fatto che anche l’affare B, in fondo, è per me conveniente!

Ma il l‘evento più rilevante è un altro: chi ama i giornali di solito apprezza i libri più della persona qualsiasi, quindi posso fare un prezzo diverso di quello che faccio a tutti.

Potrei aggiungerci il fatto che l’alternativa sarebbe quella di andare in libreria e comprare ora mi risparmierebbe un viaggio, ma questo è un altro discorso.

Questo è il punto chiave: il gioco delle tre carte che si intende qui non è quello del truffatore alla stazione che vi spenna, qui si rispetta la logica dello scambio: essere tutti più felici. Solo che dopo il gioco delle tre carte il venditore è ancora più felice e io un po’ meno felice perché sono statoisolato, etichettato e spennato con delicatezza e con il mio consenso.

L’affare B, naturalmente, fa la gioia del giornalaio che l’ha predisposto per discriminare quei clienti che, attirati dal giornale, probabilmente valutano il libro sopra il suo prezzo consueto. E’ lo stesso meccanismo per cui i pop corn al cinema costano più che altrove: il cinema è l’esca per isolare gli amanti di pop corn.

Ammettiamo che questa situazione si ripeta per molte persone, potremmo dire che “il giornale finanzia i libri”. Capito ora da dove deriva l’espressione “cross-subsidiation”? A volte, infatti, l’esca è talmente appetitosa e funzionale che la rendiamo ancor più succulenta facendola pagare poco.

Ma lo stesso identico ragionamento puo’ farsi a prodotti invertiti, avendo in mente l’amante di libri (che non ama i giornali) e che valuta il libro ben sopra i 0.7, ovvero sopra il suo prezzo “spacchettato”. In questo caso – qualora abbocchi all’amo della “combinazione” –  diremo che è il libro a finanziare il giornale. 

Cosa vuoi di più dalla vita? La macchina scanner? Ma per quella bisogna aspettare.

Due considerazioni:

1) il gioco delle tre carte non è un automatismo, una macchina da soldi che funziona col pilota automatico, va applicata valutando bene la natura della clientela, un fiuto imprenditoriale è quindi sempre necessario. L’imprenditore deve capire quali prodotti possono fungere meglio da esca per differenziare la sua clientela.

2) Il negoziante non potrà mai essere accusato di essere un profittatore truffaldino. I suoi clienti escono tutti soddisfatti, anche se forse, senza questi espedienti, lo sarebbero stati ancora di più. 

***

Domanda: sono i ristoranti a finanziare i casinò o viceversa?

Las Vegas fornisce la risposta: entrambi i casi sono validi.

A Las Vegas ci sono ristoranti di qualità eccelsa, di solito sono sul retro dei Casino, un po’ nascosti. Uno deve conoscerli per andarci e fare una grande cena. Poi, già che è lì, fa una puntatina al Casinò.

Questi ristoranti finanziano il Casinò.

Ma Las Vegas è piena anche di ristoranti mediocri, di solito sono ben in vista di fronte al Casinò. Chi gioca si prende una pausa e va lì a cenare.

In questo caso è il Casinò a finanziare il ristorante.

***

Domanda: sono gli aiuti agli agricoltori del Terzo Mondo a finanziare i prodotti equo-solidali o sono i prodotti equo-solidali a finanziare gli aiuti agli agricoltori del Terzo Mondo?

La mia impressione è che siano gli aiuti a finanziare i prodotti. Al punto che la vendita equo solidale è spesso un affare, tanto è vero che entra nei supermercati: il finanziamento degli aiuti è tale che una parte cospicua puo’ essere trattenuta dall’intermediario.

***

Sono i popcorn a finanziare i film o viceversa?

Qui è ovvio: sono i film a finanziare i popcorn.

Quello che sfugge è l’entità del finanziamento. Ormai siamo arrivati al punto che i multisala non guadagnano più niente col film (i produttori pretendono l’intero incasso), guadagnano solo con i popcorn.

***

Un caco di scuola di finanziamento incrociato lo riscontriamo al ristorante, il classico posto dove le bevande finanziano i cibi: di solito il cliente disattento si concentra sul prezzo della pastasciutta o della bistecca.