Government regulation of market functions in NL
Yes, today I will post a message about market functions. As many of you know, I study Economics and Informatics which kind of tells you the theoretical how of this post.
"de Volkskrant" informed us August 7th about plans made by dutch parties SP and CDA to limit the trade of tickets to concerts and festivals via the internet. Unfortunately, the original article is in dutch, so for any english speaking visitors I apologize.
This unlikely combination of the CDA (centre-right) and SP (outright left) produces a proposal for a law which a) cannot be enforced, and b) goes straight against the government’s idea to let the market function in a realm of different markets flourish.
The reason for all this is the fact that internettraders often buy tickets to concerts and festivals by large quantities (the article says ‘some’ to ‘dozens’) and try to sell them when the concert or festival is sold out for a much higher price. An example are tickets to the Lowlands festival where tickets were available for around €125, they now ‘do’ between €250 and €300 via traders.
Unpleasant as it is, to pay more than the regular price; we are Dutch after all, it is regular market function at work. When the demand is higher than the supply, the price goes up. Regular fans already bought their tickets to the festival or concert directly after the sales started by going to sales points as soon as possible, and those who want to ‘outsource’ this quick response just pay the price for doing so.
Yes, they may be mad by paying twice the price (or more) for a ticket, but it is a consequence of waiting (too long). Yes, it is unpleasant, and yes, the high prices are there because of the late buyers and clever sellers. But approving legislation to monitor and even limit prices of tickets to maximal the original price is unwanted interference in the market, and should not be accepted. My advice to the CDA and SP: please follow the government on this subject: do not propose laws the regulate the market.