麻豆淫院

(麻豆淫院Org.com) -- Chinese consumers pay too much for goods and services because of superstitions surrounding particular numbers, Binghamton University economist Zili Yang says.

In a study published recently by The Journal of Socio-Economics, Yang reports that an aversion to the number 4, combined with a preference for the numbers 6 and 8, may translate into a 鈥渟urcharge鈥� of as much as 1.4 percent of China鈥檚 gross domestic product.

In China, the world鈥檚 second-largest economy, superstition plays an important role in the pricing of consumer goods. The number 4 shares the same sound as 鈥渄eath鈥� in Chinese; 6 is a lucky number that represents 鈥渟mooth鈥�; and the number 8 sounds like the word 鈥減rosperity鈥� in Chinese.

It鈥檚 not uncommon for a culture to have such preferences, Yang notes: Consider Americans鈥� aversion to the number 13. The difference is that the Chinese superstition has significant economic implications.

Yang, who grew up in China and travels there several times a year, had made casual observations about the effect of these superstitions in the past. When he set out to test his theory, he hired someone to collect random prices from Chinese shops without telling him what kind of research he was doing. In the end, Yang analyzed more than 11,000 Beijing-area prices of items in five categories: food, electronics and appliances, clothing, real estate and services.

鈥淭hrough meticulous analysis of the collected data, I conclude that retailers in China could have gained as much as an extra 4.16 percent by manipulating price tag numbers to take advantage of superstitions,鈥� he writes, 鈥渨hich could translate into as much as 1.40 percent of annual GDP in 2007, where these retailer gains are consumer losses.鈥�

Essentially, any time a Chinese retailer changes the price of an item to avoid the number 4, he uses a higher number. The practice leads to higher prices; Yang found that 4 is significantly under-represented and that 8 is significantly over-represented in the final digit of prices.

Previous studies in marketing journals have identified this pattern, but haven鈥檛 addressed the winners and losers it creates. 鈥淭he use of superstitious numbers in pricing and the exploitation of superstition in retail sales is more than a cultural phenomenon,鈥� Yang writes. 鈥淕iven its ubiquity, the use of superstitious numbers in prices should not be viewed as a mere marketing gimmick either.鈥�

It鈥檚 this conclusion that distinguishes Yang鈥檚 paper, which was highlighted in the January/Febrary edition of Harvard Business Review.

鈥淐onsumers overpay for what they purchase in China in general,鈥� he says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of profit margin, which means there鈥檚 a lot of room for manipulation.鈥�

Yang, whose research primarily focuses on energy and environmental economics, tackled the question of lucky numbers on a lark. He may return to this topic for a future project, though: He鈥檇 like to examine consumer purchase patterns as they relate to 鈥渓ucky鈥� numbers in China.