Chuck E. Cheese's Pricing Theory

In the podcast “Chuck E. Cheese’s: Where a Kid Can Learn Price Theory”, Stephen J. Dubner discusses the current violent outbreaks, along with some possible theories. One of his listeners, Nathan Corroy, a financial adviser in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, mentions that a contributing factor may be the pricing strategy. Right now, all the arcade games at Chuck E. Cheese’s cost one token to play, even though some games last longer than others. Thus, Dubner asks an important question “How does the price of a good or a service effect consumer behavior?” (Dubner). Steven Levitt, an economist, says that if the experience has a low cost, then it causes long lines of people that want to access it. Thus, Corroy’s initial theory was put to the test. An investigation

Before this podcast, I had no idea there were so many videos about violent breakouts in Chuck E. Cheese’s. So, hearing about Corroy’s theory about the possible connection between prices and physical assault really caught my attention. The way they walk the listener through the process of disputing the theory was also well done. First, they link some videos about assaults to inform the reader that the violence is popular in the media, which is useful for those like me who had never even thought it was so common. Then they include responses from the owner, which give trustworthy insight about the issue and about how they cannot reject the possibility that the violence is caused by the lack of ranging prices for each arcade game. This leads to the data gathered from the experiment/police reports, which gives intel about how many instances this has taken place. The way the topics flowed smoothly to the next while provided deeper meaning helped engage the listener. They also made sure to include light hearted commentary, which made the audio seem more friendly and entertaining rather than a serious research essay. Overall, I found the podcast to be an enjoyable way to inform many people about such an unconventional