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Should I interpret that as to mean the Atlantic article was all wrong, the prices actually aren't higher in the US, or that they'll be fixed by the markets soon?

True. What about not having viable options?

Can you think of any situations where peoples' behaviors haven't or couldn't have changed?

After 7 beers not a single one. :(

Nobody seems to know, but without a doubt there are some, depending on how the regulations are implemented. According to research it does seem though that at least in the US and the Netherlands the...

I remember well paying highway robbery prices for internet back in the late 90s here, while similar and faster connections were available in the US for cheaper. Now I pay $45/mo for gigabit fibre and...

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/europe-not-america-home-free-market/600859/

With insurance, why would they? The point isn't that they'll want a less cost-effective treatment over a more cost-effective one, they'll want every test imaginable, whether they're even relevant or...

When medical doctors have to compete for their customers, they tend to give the treatments and tests that their customers want, rather than what they need or what would be cost-effective.

Me: What's better, bananas, apples or oranges?

Banana: I like both bananas and oranges! Why do I have to pick one? :(

No no not at all. I'm only saying that IF a company wants to increase profits and IF they decide to do it by raising prices and IF that actually works and they get more profits, it's basically free...

Of course not, and they don't have to be. It's enough that there's a stronger incentive to try everything else rather than making a better product. I'd say already a few percent decrease in research...

In isolation of course, since I only want to know what the incentives are. Those incentives of course are just one variable, there are probably a million others. But, if the incentives are to...

No, I'm just saying that increasing prices is one of the 4 available options a business has when facing competition. I put it at number 1 because, well, you just (theoretically) increase the price...

*whoosh*

Banana, you're talking about something completely different than I am. I'm not interested in figuring out the best business strategy for a school administrator, I'm interested in the incentives...

OK, I'll just answer to the bits with even a modicum of relevance.



For sure, but not by spending as much money as possible.



Sounds like you're cutting too much costs, in other words...

Forget schools for a bit, I'm not talking about them or what any school should or does do in any given situation. What I'm trying to say is that it looks like the economic incentives are not in line...

No.



Yes, assuming that the price increase does indeed raise revenues, and not lower them. The only one suffering are the customers, who pay more for an identical product. No appeal to...

Fine.

1. increase prices
2. cut costs
3. invest in marketing
4. invest in product

Yeah my point was completely invalidated.

Aww please don't keep us in suspense, tell, tell!

My point is that the order of importance or priority [in a vacuum] for rational actors is to follow those steps, and only move to the next step when the current one is exhausted. Why invest if you...

Maybe so, but I also don't think it's appropriate to dismiss the distortion of incentives just based on somewhat irrelevant factors. That same incentive structure is true for every company, is it...

You're both missing the point. I'm not saying that's the decision tree in 100% of cases, and those single decisions are the only single action they will take. I'm talking about incentives, which type...

For-profit schools. Imagine you're running one, and you're facing competition, as one does. Your investors demand profits, as they do. To make yourself more competitive, is it easier and cheaper to
...