Skip to main content
Log in

All you can drink: should we worry about quality?

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Journal of Regulatory Economics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

“All you can drink” specials are forbidden by law in several places. Authorities claim that establishments tend to offer low quality drinks when they use this type of promotion. In this paper, I elaborate a model to determine whether a monopolist produces higher or lower quality goods when using buffet pricing (all you can drink) instead of a two-part tariff. I find that the more profitable strategy is usually associated with a higher quality good than the less profitable strategy. However, under certain conditions buffet pricing is more profitable and leads to lower quality goods than the alternative.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anderson R., Enomoto C. (1987) Product quality regulation: A general equilibrium analysis. Canadian Journal of Economics 20(4): 735–749

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barro R., Romer P. (1987) Ski-lift pricing, with applications to labor and other markets. American Economic Review 77(5): 875–890

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker G. (1991) A note on restaurant pricing and other examples of social influences on price. Journal of Political Economy 99(5): 1109–1116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Besanko D., Donnenfeld S., White L. (1987) Monopoly and quality distortion: Effects and remedies. Quarterly Journal of Economics 102(4): 743–768

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buchanan J. (1965) An economic theory of clubs. Economica 32(125): 1–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nahata B., Ostaszewski K., Sahoo P. (1999) Buffet pricing. Journal of Business 72(2): 215–228

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oi W. (1971) A disneyland dilemma: Two-part tariffs for a mickey mouse monopoly. Quarterly Journal of Economics 85(1): 77–96

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oi W. (1973) The economics of product safety. Bell Journal of Economics 4(1): 3–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sheshinski E. (1976) Price, quality and quantity regulation in monopoly situations. Economica 43(170): 127–137

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spence M. (1975) Monopoly, quality and regulation. Bell Journal of Economics 6(2): 417–429

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spence M. (1976) Product differentiation and welfare. American Economic Review 66(2): 407–414

    Google Scholar 

  • Spence M. (1977) Consumer misperceptions, product failure and producer liability. Review of Economic Studies 44(3): 561–572

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tirole J. (1988) The theory of industrial organization. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Weisman D. (2005) Price regulation and quality. Information Economics and Policy 17(2): 165–174

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel Flores.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Flores, D. All you can drink: should we worry about quality?. J Regul Econ 35, 1–18 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11149-008-9072-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11149-008-9072-1

Keywords

JEL Classification

Navigation