{"id":377,"date":"2013-02-25T18:35:12","date_gmt":"2013-02-26T02:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/?p=377"},"modified":"2013-02-25T18:35:12","modified_gmt":"2013-02-26T02:35:12","slug":"targets-the-cost-of-bread-and-nonprofit-arts-pricing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/02\/targets-the-cost-of-bread-and-nonprofit-arts-pricing\/","title":{"rendered":"Targets, The Cost of Bread, and Nonprofit Arts Pricing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Focus<\/a>My previous post<\/a> drew lessons for museum pricing from what we observe in the prices set by cable television providers. But how can for-profit pricing be relevant to nonprofit museums, to orchestras and opera? Don\u2019t the nonprofit arts, unlike cable companies, have a mission to be accessible to all patrons, regardless of income?<\/p>\n

Let me draw from what might seem at first a very unrelated policy issue. All rich countries except the US raise government revenue through value-added taxes (VAT). These are sales taxes applied to all goods and services, where intermediaries receive a full tax credit for any VAT paid on their purchases, so only final consumers end up effectively paying any tax. And the rates are high \u2013 in Denmark, for example, the rate is 25%<\/a>. You won\u2019t see the tax as you go shopping in Copenhagen, since retailers have included it in the sticker prices you see. American visitors might be especially surprised to know that the VAT applies to everything<\/em>. The 25% tax is applied not just to luxuries, but also to purchases of milk, eggs, and bread. How can that possibly be justified, in a country normally perceived as one that places a high value on economic equality? (And Denmark is not the only European country to apply VAT to all purchases). Don\u2019t they care that the poor spend a higher proportion of their income on groceries than the rich do?<\/p>\n

Suppose Mads earns 10,000 Euros per year and spends 1,000 on groceries, while Freja earns 60,000 Euros per year and spends 3,000 on groceries. While it is true that the proportion of income spent on groceries falls as income rises, it is also true that the rich spend more Euros on groceries per person than the poor. That\u2019s true everywhere. Now if the government decided to exclude food from the base of the VAT, and the tax rate is 25%, the exclusion would save Mads 250 Euros per year, and would save Freja 750 Euros per year. That would be an ill-targeted means of helping Mads<\/em>. What if we kept<\/em> the tax on food, and used some of the money we raised from Freja and others in her income bracket to make transfers to people like Mads, either in cash payments or in useful public spending, such that he was more than compensated for having to pay tax on food?<\/p>\n

In tax policy, as in other branches of social welfare, we aim for policies that are well targeted<\/i> at the people they are meant to help. It is expensive and inefficient to have policies that aim to help those with low incomes, but in fact give a much bigger benefit to the well off.<\/p>\n

Nonprofit arts organizations need to consider this in their pricing policies. Reducing admission prices across the board will sometimes<\/i> be a sound way to achieve the goal of greater accessibility to the arts. But it needs to be asked, in each case, whether that policy is the most effective given the desired goal. For it might also be the case that garnering revenue using pricing methods that generate profits will provide the funds that can be specifically directed<\/em> to programs aimed at inclusiveness. Would general cuts in admission rates to the Art Institute of Chicago, or the San Francisco Opera, be the best way to increase accessibility for low-income individuals? Or would that be an expensive policy that works mostly to the benefit of patrons who can afford to pay more, while producing only marginal help to the intended beneficiaries?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My previous post drew lessons for museum pricing from what we observe in the prices set by cable television providers. But how can for-profit pricing be relevant to nonprofit museums, to orchestras and opera? Don\u2019t the nonprofit arts, unlike cable companies, have a mission to be accessible to all patrons, regardless of income? Let me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-377","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dIW5-65","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1885,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2015\/04\/are-nonprofit-arts-organizations-special\/","url_meta":{"origin":377,"position":0},"title":"Are nonprofit arts organizations special?","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"April 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"April 16, 2015 marked the opening session of a conference held at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Bloomington, on Advancing the Field(s) of Nonprofit Management: New Structures, New Solutions. I was asked to speak about the arts, specifically about relationships between nonprofit arts organizations and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Blood alone moves the wheels of history!","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/my-speech.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1425,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/07\/strategic-pricing-for-the-arts\/","url_meta":{"origin":377,"position":1},"title":"Strategic pricing for the arts","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"July 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm pleased to say my book on pricing in the arts has been released - Amazon link here, and Routledge link (including for ordering e-inspection copies) here. What's it all about? As I do \u00a0on this blog, I have tried to give arts managers, and students of arts management, a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"for what it's worth","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/my-book.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":363,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/02\/museums-amusement-parks-and-cable-tv\/","url_meta":{"origin":377,"position":2},"title":"Museums, Amusement Parks and Cable TV","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"February 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Should museums charge visitors according to the length of their visit? \u00a0In a recent paper Bruno Frey and Lasse Steiner argue they should. We pay per hour when we park our cars, so why not when we go to view art? This question came to mind during the recent flare\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"bundling\"","block_context":{"text":"bundling","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/tag\/bundling\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"\"Zero marginal cost, you say?\"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Family_watching_television_1958-300x279.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":439,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/03\/tips-charities-and-businesses\/","url_meta":{"origin":377,"position":3},"title":"Tips, Charities and Businesses","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"March 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This blog holds that arts managers can learn interesting things about pricing from non-arts businesses, and today I want to look at pricing of internet content. Preparation and presentation of content is not costless, and has to be financed somehow. It might be financed by the content provider herself, happy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"please give","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/tips-201x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":387,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/02\/why-is-dynamic-pricing-so-rarely-used\/","url_meta":{"origin":377,"position":4},"title":"Why Is Dynamic Pricing So Rarely Used?","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"February 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"As technology has come available that allows performing arts organizations to adjust prices in light of demand, the question has arisen: is it appropriate for nonprofit theaters to employ dynamic pricing? See here and here for example. Let's consider the issue from a different angle: why is dynamic pricing so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"dynamic pricing\"","block_context":{"text":"dynamic pricing","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/tag\/dynamic-pricing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"one price","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/220px-Vitascope_Theater_Buffalo_Nov_1897_ad-177x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":955,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/07\/taking-pricing-seriously\/","url_meta":{"origin":377,"position":5},"title":"Taking pricing seriously","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"July 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Many posts in this blog have been about how arts organizations, especially in the nonprofit or public sectors, can learn a thing or two about strategic pricing from other organizations, including non-arts commercial firms. But at The Economist, blogger Schumpeter writes that the private sector is not all that sharp\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"crossroads","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/the-economist-300x248.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}