Dylan Calhoun tastes generic and name brand salts. Photo submitted
Eli Thornton taste tests Coke and Pepsi. Photo submitted
Special to the News
On campus twelfth grade economics students participated in a demonstration to compare the market structures of different products.
Dylan Calhoun taste tested a generic and name brand salt, which are perfect competitors. Eli Thornton taste tested Coke and Pepsi to see if he could tell the difference between these oligopolistic competitors who dominate the cola market.
Students were able to conclude that Coke and Pepsi have a different taste, and hence consumers may be willing to pay a higher price for their preferred cola.
In contrast, salt is the identical compound, sodium chloride, hence smart consumers should never buy name brand salt because they are only paying for the advertising costs of the name brand. There is no real difference in taste; it is just a perception based on advertising.
Economic demonstrations help students learn how to apply economic concepts to real-life decision making.
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