【英语生活】“随你付”

With the economy slowing down, I have seen an outburst of "pay-what-you-want" options where customers of, say, coffee shops are encouraged to pay what they consider the product or service is truly worth. Is this sustainable in the long term, or will people take advantage of it, gaming the system into failure?

John Wegman, London

Dear John,

While we economists realise that people pay money even when they don't legally have to, few of us have studied exactly when or why. One exception is Paul F., the "bagel man" made famous by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt, the authors of Freakonomics. Paul F., a retired economist, delivered bagels to offices, along with a box for payment. He specified prices and kept careful track of payment rates - a little under 90 per cent.

Pay-what-you-want goes further than this simple honesty system, and might work better because it stands a chance of persuading affluent customers to pay over the odds. Most retailers devote great ingenuity to this task of "price discrimination"; it would simplify things a lot if customers simply complied.

Yet I am doubtful. A major attraction of pay-what-you-want is free publicity, whether for an ageing rock band or the new cafe on the block. The more businesses try it, the less publicity each will receive. I wonder, too, whether customers continue to contribute more than they must after the thrill of the new wears off: the economists John List and Uri Gneezy once conducted an experiment to see if temporary workers tried harder if unexpectedly paid a generous wage. The answer: yes, but the gratitude wears off in a matter of hours.

Still, pay-what-you-want has to be worth a try. If the journalists look elsewhere and the customers become ungrateful, it's a simple matter to install a cash register.

随着经济放缓，我发现“随你付”(pay-what-you-want)的做法急剧增多。比如，咖啡店鼓励顾客按照自己心目中商品或服务的真正价值来付款。长期而言，这是一种可持续的做法吗？还是人们会趁机占便宜，导致体系失灵？

约翰•韦格曼(John Wegman)，伦敦

亲爱的约翰：

虽然我们这些经济学家知道，即使没有法律强制规定，人们也会付钱，但却很少有人研究过这种情况何时、以及为何出现。有一个例外，那就是因为《魔鬼经济学》(Freakonomics)的作者斯蒂芬•杜布纳(Stephen J. Dubner)和史蒂文•莱维特(Steven D. Levitt)而出名的“面包人”保罗•F (Paul F.)。退休经济学家保罗给写字楼送面包圈，并同时附上一个收钱的盒子。他详细标明了各种面包圈的价格，并认真记录了付款比率——略低于90%。

“随你付”比这种简单的诚信体制更进了一步，因此效果可能更好，因为这种做法有可能让那些富有的顾客支付超额价格。大多数零售商认为，这项“价格差异”任务贡献了极高的创造力；顾客们只要照做就可以让事情变得简单许多。

不过我还是有所怀疑。“随你付”做法的一个主要吸引力是其免费的宣传效应，不论是对于过气的摇滚乐队，还是街区的新咖啡店。但尝试这种做法的企业越多，所获得的宣传效应就越差。我同时怀疑，一旦新鲜感逐渐消失，顾客们是否还会继续支付超额价格。经济学家约翰•李斯特(John List)和尤里•格尼茨(Uri Gneezy)曾经做过一项试验，来观察如果出乎意料地获得一笔很高的工资，临时工是否会加倍努力地工作。答案是，会的，但这种感激之情在几个小时之内就会消褪。

不过，“随你付”还是值得一试的。如果记者的注意力转移，或是顾客不再领情，再安装一台收银机也不费事。

译者/管婧