Priceless

the myth of fair value (and how to take advantage of it)
William Poundstone

'A powerful argument that should be a wake-up call to everyone who still subscribes to the old model of economics.'

Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational: the hidden forces that shape our decisions

‘If you can get this book for under $100, grab it! After you read it, you will better understand why the price you paid felt like a bargain.’

Max Bazerman, professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, and coauthor of Judgment in Managerial Decision Making

View all reviews

'Poundstone has managed to write a book that is fun to read and yet well-researched and substantive. Without a minute of suffering the reader gets to know nearly all the key contributors to the science of decision making. Recommended for anyone who has to make decisions.'

Richard H. Thaler, coauthor of Nudge: improving decisions on health, wealth and happiness

‘The psychology of prices is, to an extent, the psychology of life, and thus the lessons of Priceless are indeed life lessons. Poundstone’s lively descriptions of the irrational quirks that characterise our behaviour are engaging and enlightening. Take it with you when you’re thinking of buying (or selling) something. It might save you a bundle.’

John Allen Paulos, author of Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences and Irreligion: a mathematician explains why the arguments for God just don't add up

'In William Poundstone's account, price is not a simple estimate of value but a sophisticated and effective weapon, deployed by companies with the help of behavioural psychology. The array of strategies and theories is bewildering, but Poundstone manages to make them accessible and even fascinating; ideas are practically illustrated with sadly familiar examples, and presented in short chapters. Useful and enlightening.'

The Age

'Pricing is a richer subject than you might imagine. The smile that creeps onto your face when a shameless marketing gambit reminds you of something you read in Poundstone's book? Priceless.'

Peter Coy, Business Week

'Much of behavioral economics ... has focused on the seemingly crazy ways in which people and prices interact. In his new book Priceless, William Poundstone offers a thoroughly accessible and enjoyable tour of this research ... Poundstone is an engaging intellectual historian who traces the development of behavioral economics from its roots in the 1960s discipline called psychophysics, an offshoot of psychology ... It was more than century ago that Oscar Wilde famously observed that "people know the price of everything and the value of nothing". In Priceless, we now have the proof.'

Steven Pearlstine, Washington Post

'Author William Poundstone, an easy-to-read bestselling writer, takes readers through the psychological ploys consumers face each day when they reach into their pockets and purses to pay for goods and services. It attempts to help them answer the big question: how do they know whether they're getting value for money? ... Very readable account of dark arts used to convince consumers they should pay more for everything.'

Piers Akerman, The Daily Telegraph

‘Poundstone makes complicated economic and psychological concepts palatable by using a numble, colloquial style in refreshingly short chapters … Dozens of fascinating topics are explored ... At the end you will be left wondering what money and prices really mean — the dizzying quirky irrational sort of wonder that Alice found in “Wonderland”.’

The Denver Post

'Pricing is often seen as market-driven and rational but this improbably fascinating book reveals all the alarming tricks used to make consumers pay more for less and argues that prices are often entirely unrelated to anything other than the whims and consumer psychology. You'll learn a lot about "anchoring" and you'll never look at a restaurant menu the same way again.'

Sun Herald

‘Poundstone dives into the latest psychological findings to investigate how and why prices are allocated … the scope of the analysis — its attention to economic abstractions as well as real-world consequences — braids together theory and practice to leave an indelible impression on the reader. Grocery shopping will never seem so simple again when one realises how much work goes into assigning a price to a box of cereal.’

Publishers Weekly

'Bright analysis of the psychology of pricing ... Poundstone provides plenty of useful information for negotiators, car and home buyers, investors and others trying to figure out what to pay. Readable and revealing.'

Kirkus Reviews

'Immensely readable and deeply researched.'

New Zealand Listener

'Priceless is an instructive and entertaining romp through the hits of recent research on decision making, which will leave you amused, smarter, and wondering about what money and prices really mean.'

Daniel Kahneman, professor emeritus, Princeton University, and winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Economics

People used to download music for free; then Steve Jobs convinced them to pay for it. How? By charging 99 cents. Prada and other luxury stores stock a few obscenely expensive items — just to make the rest of their inventory seem like a bargain. Why do text messages cost money, while emails are free? Why do jars of peanut butter keep getting smaller in order to keep the price the ‘same’? The answer is simple: prices are a collective hallucination.

In Priceless, bestselling author William Poundstone reveals the hidden psychology of value. In psychological experiments, people are unable to estimate ‘fair’ prices accurately and are strongly influenced by the unconscious, the irrational, and the politically incorrect. It hasn’t taken long for marketers to apply these findings. ‘Price consultants’ advise retailers on how to convince consumers to pay more for less, and negotiation coaches offer similar advice for businesspeople cutting deals. The new psychology of price dictates the design of price tags, menus, rebates, ‘sale’ ads, mobile-phone plans, supermarket aisles, real-estate offers, wage packages, tort demands, and corporate buyouts. Prices are the most pervasive hidden persuaders of all.

'A powerful argument that should be a wake-up call to everyone who still subscribes to the old model of economics.'

Dan Ariely, author of Predictably Irrational: the hidden forces that shape our decisions

‘If you can get this book for under $100, grab it! After you read it, you will better understand why the price you paid felt like a bargain.’

Max Bazerman, professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, and coauthor of Judgment in Managerial Decision Making

View all reviews

Richard H. Thaler, coauthor of Nudge: improving decisions on health, wealth and happiness

John Allen Paulos, author of Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences and Irreligion: a mathematician explains why the arguments for God just don't add up

The Age

'Pricing is a richer subject than you might imagine. The smile that creeps onto your face when a shameless marketing gambit reminds you of something you read in Poundstone's book? Priceless.'

Peter Coy, Business Week

Steven Pearlstine, Washington Post

Piers Akerman, The Daily Telegraph

The Denver Post

Sun Herald

Publishers Weekly

Kirkus Reviews

'Immensely readable and deeply researched.'

New Zealand Listener

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Details

Format:Paperback

Size: 198mm × 128mm

Extent:352pp

ISBN (13):9781921640957

RRP:$32.99

Pub date:28 Feb 2011

Rights Held: UK & Commonwealth

Rights Sold: UK (Oneworld)

High-res cover:Download Image

AWARDS

CATEGORIES / tags

Economics BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Consumer Behavior Business & management Business strategy Popular psychology BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Sales & Selling / General BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Industries / Retailing

AUTHOR

William Poundstone

William Poundstone is the author of more than ten non-fiction books, including Fortune’s Formula: the untold story of the scientific betting system that beat the casinos and Wall Street, which was the Amazon Editors’ Pick for #1 non-fiction book of 2005, and Gaming the Vote: why elections aren’t fair (and what we can do about it). Poundstone has written for The New York Times book review and op-ed pages, The Village Voice, Esquire, Harpers, The Believer, The Economist, and Harvard Business Review. He has appeared on the Today Show, David Letterman, CBS Morning News, Larry King, and hundreds of radio talk-shows throughout the world.

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Priceless

the myth of fair value (and how to take advantage of it)
William Poundstone

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the myth of fair value (and how to take advantage of it) William Poundstone

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the myth of fair value (and how to take advantage of it)
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