Local 12: ‘Treacherous’ resale market inflates Taylor Swift concert tickets
UC economics professor Iryna Topolyan explains the dynamics between buyers and sellers
Local 12 enlisted Iryna Topolyan, PhD, department head and professor of economics at the Carl H. Lindner College of Business, to lend context as to why tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour are so expensive.
Swift will perform before her “Swifties” at Paycor Stadium in downtown Cincinnati on Friday and Saturday night. Per Local 12, fans thinking about attending one of the Cincinnati shows at the last minute will be forced to pay north of $1,000.
Iryna Topolyan, PhD, department head and professor of economics.
“I have never seen anything like it,” Topolyan said. “Of course, sellers are trying to extract as much money as they can, so, it boils down to them trying to sell it to the highest bidder.”
Swift’s partnership with Ticketmaster has created “bad blood,” with the latter’s dynamic pricing model adjusting prices based on demand.
“I would guess that we will not see tickets selling for much lower,” Topolyan noted.
According to Topolyan, consumers bear a portion of the responsibility for the high prices.
“So, essentially what we are seeing here with sky-high prices is the phenomenon of the transfer of a big chunk of the consumer surplus from the consumers to the resellers,” Topolyan explained.
Read and watch more of Topolyan’s interview with Local 12.
Featured image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
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