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Prices of goods have nothing to do with cost of production. They are entirely determined by what people will pay for them. Goods that cannot be produced for less than people will pay for them simpl...
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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/20891 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
Prices of goods have nothing to do with cost of production. They are entirely determined by what people will pay for them. Goods that cannot be produced for less than people will pay for them simply do not get made. Hardcovers are a case of market segmentation. You have rich consumers and you have poor consumers. To maximize your return you want to sell to both, but you want to charge rich consumers a higher price. To accomplish this, you find a way to segment the market so that rich people are willing to pay a lot for your product even though it is also available to poor people for a lower price. This is everywhere. Organic foods segment the food market. Yellow label generic products segment the other aisles of the supermarket. Luxury badges segment the car market. Hardcovers segment the book market.