during spring break, students have an elasticity of demand for a trip to las vegas of -5. how much should an…

during spring break, students have an elasticity of demand for a trip to las vegas of -5. how much should an airline charge students for a ticket if the price it charges the general public is $660? assume the general public has an elasticity of -3.\n\nmultiple choice\n\n$440\n\n$550\n\n$352\n\n$792
Answer
Explanation:
Step1: Recall the price - elasticity of demand formula for price discrimination
The formula for price discrimination based on price - elasticity of demand is $P_1=\frac{\epsilon_2}{\epsilon_1}P_2$, where $P_1$ and $P_2$ are the prices for two different groups, and $\epsilon_1$ and $\epsilon_2$ are the price - elasticities of demand for the two groups. Let the price for the general public be $P_g = 660$, the price - elasticity of demand for the general public be $\epsilon_g=-3$, and the price - elasticity of demand for students be $\epsilon_s = - 5$. We want to find the price for students $P_s$.
Step2: Substitute the values into the formula
We know that $\frac{P_s}{P_g}=\frac{\epsilon_g}{\epsilon_s}$. Substituting the given values: $P_s=\frac{\epsilon_g}{\epsilon_s}\times P_g$. Plugging in $\epsilon_g=-3$, $\epsilon_s=-5$, and $P_g = 660$, we get $P_s=\frac{- 3}{-5}\times660$.
Step3: Calculate the price for students
First, $\frac{-3}{-5}=\frac{3}{5}=0.6$. Then, $P_s = 0.6\times660=396$. However, there is a mistake above. The correct formula is $P=\frac{|\epsilon|}{|\epsilon| + 1}MC$ (assuming marginal cost $MC$ is the same for both groups). In the case of price - discrimination between two groups, we can also use the relationship $\frac{P_1}{P_2}=\frac{|\epsilon_2|+1}{|\epsilon_1| + 1}$. Let $P_1$ be the student price and $P_2$ be the general - public price. So, $\frac{P_1}{660}=\frac{|-3| + 1}{|-5|+1}=\frac{3 + 1}{5 + 1}=\frac{4}{6}=\frac{2}{3}$. Then $P_1=\frac{2}{3}\times660 = 440$.
Answer:
A. $440