The Game Theory of How Algorithms Can Drive Up Prices | Quanta Magazine
Recent findings reveal that even simple pricing algorithms can make things more expensive.
pricing
When Raising Prices Is Better Than Cutting Quality
Consumers may accept higher prices or smaller packages, but hidden quality cuts can damage trust and drive them away.
Price elasticity: a missing factor in retailers’ forecasts - Supply Chain Movement
We all know that a product’s price influences demand. Yet there are still retailers who regard pricing and forecasting as two separate activi
The price elasticity of basic necessities such as milk, eggs and bread is low. Consumers will always continue to buy these.
OpenAI releases GPT-6 Sol and Luna — and cuts token prices in half - The New Stack
OpenAI halved GPT-6's price to beat Anthropic on cost. But Opus 5.5 already reset the comparison, and nobody's run the two head-to-head yet.
Food Prices Today: US Produce Price Charts from USDA Data
Food prices today for onions, potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce, avocados and strawberries: USDA wholesale and shipping point quotes with price charts, change against a year earlier, grocery ad prices by region and daily updates. Latest report 18 Sep 2026.
America’s Greatest Hot Dog
The price and quality of the $1.50 Costco frank haven’t budged in 40 years. It’s the last—and best—deal in the country.
The Hierarchy of Money
Spirit Didn't Die From What You Think It Died From
On May 2, 2026, Spirit Airlines stopped flying. Roughly 300 flights and 60,000 passengers a day were instantly orphaned. Seventeen thousand people lost their jobs. United, Delta, JetBlue, and Southwest capped rebooking fares at around $200 one way, which is the closest thing a…
A Pricing Model That Defies Logic, Confuses Economists, and Can Really Work
“Pay-what-you-want” isn’t just for museums and churches.
Field Guide to What Gold Is Actually Doing Part I
Two tribes dominate every conversation about gold, and both lose money reliably.
Why Smart People Stay Broke: The Hidden Game Theory Rule Nobody Teaches You
An economist watched people pay $40 for a $1 bill. Here's why smart people always lose.
The Egg That Cannot Be Priced
America's biggest egg company can't set the price of a single egg, which is the whole story, in both directions.
Eggs.org is the home of the Egg Clearinghouse,
It is a clearing mechanism for the slack in the system, and it is tiny.
What Happens When the Cost of Intelligence Drops 100x — CatalystNeuro
A given level of LLM intelligence costs about a thirtieth of what it did a year ago, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Using Artificial Analysis's measured cost per task, this post traces the falling price of each capability level, explains why cheaper intelligence leads…
A great deal of useful work does not require the smartest model available, but a model that is good enough, applied many thousands of times
At today’s prices a full pass over the corpus costs a little over a hundred dollars with a model whose capability was at the frontier in the spring. At the prices of this past March, the same pass with the same level of capability would have cost several thousand dollars, and a year ago that…
HBM’s Manufacturing Complexities Mean General-Purpose DRAM Still The Primary Cash Cow For Companies Like Micron; Gross Margins Estimated To…
HBM manufacturing complexities are keeping general-purpose DRAM as Micron’s main cash cow, with DRAM gross margins projected to reach 95% by 2027
DeepSeek Warns Developers Of Significant API Price Increases - Dataconomy
DeepSeek plans to raise prices across its API services in the near term, warning developers that the increase will be
Something Is Changing in the Unit Economics of Software
Why AI is compressing software margins, and what that does to the SaaS playbook
Tokens, vectors, contexts and costs
AI adoption is being hindered by token costs and there being no up-front pricing for AI requests lea ...
DeepSeek cut prices 75%. The 100x problem remains
Blue Dot Fever: What the Industry Isn't Saying Out Loud
The concert business has a trust problem. The economics are just where it shows up first.
How a Curious FIFA Deal Gave Fox a Huge Bargain for World Cup Broadcast Rights
A decision to stave off litigation between Fox and FIFA turned into a bonanza worth hundreds of millions of dollars in discounted World Cup rights to the broadcaster.
The Art of Discounting
Five strategies to drive volume and profit.
Avoid These Common Mistakes
The strategy must be designed to prevent (or more realistically, limit) those who would normally pay full price from taking advantage of a discount.
What Google thinks you're worth | Proton
Proton analyzed 54,000 profiles using real ad auction data to determine your worth to Google. How valuable is your data?
When the cheap one is the cool one
Apple and Porsche both figured out the same secret that the cheapest product in the lineup can be the most exciting. It just takes a little intention.
The $40 Half Chicken That Ruffled Brooklyn
A New York City councilman’s Instagram post is just the latest entry in a fierce debate about the price of dining out.
Legendary Auctioneer Jussi on How to Decode Auction Numbers
Jussi Pylkannen, one of the most revered auctioneers of his generation, breaks down what bidders need to know about reading between the lines at auction.
Auction estimates reflect sellers, not the market
Be wary of how competition creates optimism
PC parts picker - CPUs
Designing Prediction Markets — LessWrong
Prerequisite: basic familiarity with what a prediction market is …
Van Westendorp's Price Sensitivity Meter
market technique for determining consumer price preferences
CFP bowl ticket prices have collapsed over the past 2 weeks (Cotton -90%, Rose -69%, Orange -78%, Sugar -11%)
Posted by alpswd - 620 votes and 361 comments
The divergence of electricity and natural gas prices | FRED Blog
The Perils of Algorithmic Pricing
Hotels and landlords can mitigate legal risks by choosing decentralized revenue management systems that use public data.
The Game Theory of How Algorithms Can Drive Up Prices | Quanta Magazine
Recent findings reveal that even simple pricing algorithms can make things more expensive.
A Theory of Haggling
When does it happen, and how visible is it?
What If Dynamic Pricing Was Solely Used To Reduce Prices? - RetailWire
Dynamic pricing remains a hotly contested concept in retail, particularly grocery. What if the pricing model was deployed solely to the benefit of consumers?
According to the WSJ, store associates highlight items about to expire, causing an electronic in-house pricing system to check every 15 minutes as to how they are selling, and whether further discounts are needed. The article states, “Prices on any one item are cut a maximum of four times in a day…
, in-store shoppers only see price cuts. Any increases are made when stores are closed.
Pricing Pages — A Curated Gallery of Pricing Page Designs
Discover handpicked pricing page examples from SaaS companies, ecommerce brands, and digital agencies. Find design inspiration for your next pricing page design
AI-Driven Antitrust and Competition Law: Algorithmic Collusion, Self-Learning Pricing Tools, and Legal Challenges in the US and EU
AI algorithmic collusion challenges traditional antitrust law. Legal AI frameworks adapt to prosecute self-learning pricing tools
reinforcement learning (RL), can lead to outcomes resembling traditional collusion
antitrust
Many prediction markets would be better off as batched auctions
All prediction market platforms trade continuously, which is the same mechanism the stock market uses. Buy and sell limit orders can be posted at any…
Setting a Pricing Strategy Amid Ever-Changing Tariffs
There are options beyond simply raising your prices or absorbing extra costs.
What Do Pawn Shops Buy? Answered + Prices Ranges Detailed
What can you sell at a pawn shop? We explain what pawn shops buy, plus how to get the most money. Find price details for electronics, clothing, and more.
How PawnGuru Helps Sellers And Pawn Shops Compare Prices Online
Inside of a pawn shop / Photo Credit: PawnGuru Pawning something you own can be a major challenge. You want to get the highest amount for your item, but you don’t know which pawn shop will pay the most. Reality TV shows like “Hardcore Pawn” and “Pawn Stars” demonstrate how pawn…
The Economics of Pawn Shops
Pawn shops are America's lenders of last resort. But even for the same item, the amount pawn shops will loan you can vary more than 1,000%.
Beyond Human Intervention: Algorithmic Collusion through Multi-Agent Learning Strategies
Our paper, Beyond Human Intervention: Algorithmic Collusion through Multi-Agent Learning Strategies, with Suzie Grondin and Philipp Ratz is now available online Collusion in market pricing is a concept associated with human actions to raise market prices through artificially…
Ecommerce Benefits of Dynamic Pricing
AI-powered platforms transform a decades-old pricing practice.
Mistakes from my Failed Startup in Scalping Concert Tickets
And why you will never get Taylor Swift tickets at face value
What Companies Do Well is Not Necessarily How They Make Money
Thoughts on business models that don't seem to make perfect sense
Stockbrokers used to make their money from commissions, but depending on the model their big profit centers are either some net margin on interest spreads
Oil companies
StubHub vs. Ticketmaster vs. SeatGeek: What’s the Difference?
Tickets are almost entirely bought and sold (and resold) online. What is the difference between Ticketmaster, StubHub, SeatGeek and other brokers?
How to Get Rich From Peeping Inside People’s Fridges
Forget the S&P 500. Look at the ice cream. This investor visits homes around the world to see where diets—and economies—will go next.
How To Price A Data Asset
Everything you ever wanted to know about data pricing.
How annual pre-pay creates an infinite marketing budget
Dozens of founders have used this technique to transform the cash-flow of their businesses. Now it's your turn.
Shipt’s Pay Algorithm Squeezed Gig Workers. They Fought Back - IEEE Spectru
When their pay suddenly dropped, delivery drivers audited their employer