Economics at the door: Why is the green onion oil cake stall on the roads lined up forever?

Why is there so many people in McDonald's? Why is the net red milk tea shop closed again? Why does Hermes never discount? These doubts may have emerged in our minds, but we have never seriously thought about answers, and we have not linked these questions to economics.

What we think is the conceptual buckle, the analysis is deep, the logic is tight, and the structure is neat. But in fact, everyone's life has been exposed to some economic propositions more or less. Our living areas, including restaurants, cafes, vegetable markets, banks, convenience stores and other living facilities. And economic theory.

"Look! This is the author of Economics Liang Jie, "Economics within one square kilometer", starting from the scene of life and answering the economic questions at the door of the home:

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Why is the onion oil cake stall on the road always lined up?

With the rapid development of the media, we can always see the words of various "net red snacks". These snacks quickly became popular under the economic context of the current network traffic, attracting consumers to lift up.

For example, the green onion oil cake stalls have been set by the roadside for more than 20 years. Originally, it was just the breakfast of the old neighbors, but I was discovered by the gourmet reporters. It was recommended to the magazine, and then the BBC was broadcast. Quickly transform into an Internet celebrity, and the price rises at the same time. Every day, it will be lined up from "ox" to the long line, which leads to chaos in order to the streets. This is the onion oil cake.

So what economics thinking can this little onion oil cake stalls cause? This requires the relationship between a classic issue- "supply" and "demand".

Taking the onion oil cake stalls as an example, the number of green onion cakes produced by the boss daily is the supply. According to the "short -board effect", the weakest link of it determines the maximum value of the supply, that is, the maximum value of the scallion oil cake produced every day is stable. Perhaps the boss of the onion oil cake stalls is really helpless about the number of themselves, but in today's market, some companies will deliberately control the number of supply, create differences, and implement price discrimination. For example, everyone often encounters a taxi software in the morning. The situation of the car, but according to experience, there should be many cars nearby at this time. Why? The reason is simple. The taxi software does not send your order to the driver. As long as you pay a little more money, the platform will send you orders immediately. This is "price discrimination".

There is also a classic but marketing method, called "hunger marketing". There are some net red snack bars that may keep the long stale outside and create a "popular" impression for other pedestrians.

Speaking of the onion oil cake, theoretically, the threshold of the onion oil cake industry is not high, and the competition should be fierce. Consumers can turn into other merchants when they are not satisfied with the demand. The consumers of this net red green onion oil cake stand are obviously not for the green onion oil cake itself. So what is the real needs of this onion oil cake? Is the needs of "eating", or the needs of "sending friends"?

One hundred years ago, American economist Fan Blun called this consumption as "showing off consumption" in "The Division of Leisure Class", that is, the mood of consumption lies in letting others see, thereby increasing their satisfaction Essence The main value of showing off consumption is not the value of the shop, but its show off value. Therefore, the value of this onion oil cake is not reflected in the scallion oil cake itself, but it is reflected in the packaging of green onion cakes. At this time, the scallion cake packaging is very different from Hermes, but it is essentially similar.

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"Look! This is Economics "

Liang Jie

CITIC Publishing Group

May 2022

Introduction to content: Economics of real life. From going out in the morning to return home in the evening, combined with more than 30 scenes, using economics to see the principle of buried in daily phenomena

Many well -known economists in the United States are keen to run Africa and India, and to refine the theory of economics from different environments, and Chinese scholars' thinking and exploration in this regard are far from enough. In this book, the author tries to discuss the economic phenomenon and economic theory within the "one -square -kilometer" range around him for a day of life.

The author chooses a day of life, starts in the morning, and goes home at night. Combined with what you see and feel on the way, he will discuss the economics principles contained in daily life from a step -by -step and shallow place.

The author did not fully discuss the structure of the textbook. Instead, wherever he went and where he saw it, he analyzed where it was analyzed. The author believes that understanding economics in life is very important, and economics from life is meaningful economics.

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