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Reconciling Full-Cost and Marginal-Cost Pricing

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Despite the clear prescription from economic theory that a firm should set price based only on variable costs, firms routinely factor fixed costs into pricing decisions. We show that full-cost pricing (FCP) can help firms uncover their optimal price from economic theory. FCP marks up variable cost with the contribution margin per unit, which in equilibrium includes the fixed cost. This requires some knowledge of the firm's equilibrium return, though this is arguably easier a lower informational burden than knowing one's demand curve, which is required for optimal economic pricing. We characterize when FCP can implement the optimal price in a static game, a dynamic game, with multiple products, and under a satisficing objective.

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  • Jacob P. Gramlich & Korok Ray, 2015. "Reconciling Full-Cost and Marginal-Cost Pricing," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2015-72, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2015-72
    DOI: 10.17016/FEDS.2015.072
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Thépot, Jacques & Netzer, Jean-Luc, 2008. "On the optimality of the full-cost pricing," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 282-292, October.
    2. Michael Alles & Srikant Datar, 1998. "Strategic Transfer Pricing," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(4), pages 451-461, April.
    3. Nabil Al-Najjar & Sandeep Baliga & David Besanko, 2005. "The Sunk Cost Bias and Managerial Pricing Practices," Levine's Bibliography 666156000000000496, UCLA Department of Economics.
    4. Korok Ray & Maris Goldmanis, 2012. "Efficient Cost Allocation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(7), pages 1341-1356, July.
    5. V. G. Narayanan & Michael Smith, 2000. "Impact of Competition and Taxes on Responsibility Center Organization and Transfer Prices," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(3), pages 497-529, September.
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    Keywords

    Full Cost Pricing; Marginal Cost Pricing; Optimal Pricing; Pricing;
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