--- The Fool <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jul2003/tc20030731_6139_tc073.htm > > PRIVACY MATTERS > By Jane Black > > Sharper Tools for Discriminatory Pricing > Expert Andrew Odlyzko explains how tech advances are > making it much > easier to charge one price for you and another for > your neighbor > > > Why do corporations want your personal data? The > simple answer, according > to Andrew Odlyzko, the director of the University of > Minnesota's Digital > Technology Center, is that such information is the > key to a holy grail of > capitalism: discriminatory pricing. > > Economic theory posits that price discrimination -- > where companies > charge individuals based on their ability to pay and > their value as a > customer -- is desirable since it makes trade more > efficient. Yet it > rankles consumers, who perceive differential pricing > as unfair. The fact > that business travelers, whose corporations can > arguably afford it, pay > more for airline seats than a vacationer has made > air travel more popular > and routine. At the same time, the price > discrimination that charges two > people different prices for the same class of > service infuriates those who pay more. <snipped rest>
And on the other hand, there's charging more to the less-fortunate: http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~33~1527009,00.html "...Uninsured patients don't get the same discounts hospitals give to managed-care plans, and these patients often pay far more for the same medical care. The Denver Post reported in January that uninsured patients in the city can pay up to four times as much for the same services..." With medical insurance costs prohibitive to so many of the working poor, they're caught between sacrificing to pay the premiums, or paying out the wazoo if they have to be hospitalized (or are taken to the ER). The self-insured also pay much higher prices: http://www.businessword.com/pMachine/comments/476_0_1_0_C/ Debbi who doesn't have the answers, but would start with educating people (beginning in elementary school) with the hazards associated with certain lifestyle choices - and gradually making people responsible for their own folly -- we could ~ halve the chronic disease burden with lifestyle changes __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
