Economics of Harry Potter

Two major events relating to Harry Potter has happened over the past two weeks .One the release of the movie” Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix”, and two the eagerly awaited book,” Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”. Since Iam a huge Potter fan, I have tried here to understand the economics relating to the teenage wizard.

Firstly Harry Potter, as a popular series of books is a huge industry for publishers. Scholastic holds the publishing rights for the book in the US while Bloomsbury has a absolute hegemony in allover the world rights (excepting US).The publishers do not however control the dynamics of the market. Retailers like Wal-Mart, Online stores like Amazon and Traditional Bookshops are all vying against each other for a share in the Potter Pie. This is where the issue of pricing comes in .Wal-Mart and Amazon has offered a flat discount of 50%, while the bookstores are not able to match their prices. Bookstores are skeptical about making any profits through the sale of the books this year, while Wal-Mart and Amazon.com are sure to rake in profits due to their competitive pricing strategies. Their pricing can be understood as follows. A quick look at the demand and supply curve will tell you that when demand and supply increase the price P would be depend upon the elasticity. Therefore different companies offer different rates depending upon their competitiveness.

The Market for Harry Potter books is according to theory”Perfectly Competitive”. It has many buyers and sellers and essentially the same product is being traded. But, we can safely conclude that the market is Monopolistic Competition due to the following reasons. The book being the same is being sold through different modes wherein huge differentiation exists. For example direct selling is different from, retailing which is again different from e-commerce. Since the supply chains here are essentially different, the product though the same is priced differently .Essentially the market is not a “Price Taker”. In order to stay competitive the companies try different advertising strategies/promotion campaigns. For example Amazon.com held this contest called “Harry –est.” town in America offering a reward of 5000$ for the town which accrues highest sales.

Huge popularity for Harry Potter has spun a mammoth allied market.This can be related to the concept of “Demand for a complement increasing when the demand for the core product increases”. The market estimated to be around 10 million USD consists of glasses ,watches books and games. Its a mini industry on its own. Recently Warner Bros has planned to set up a theme park totally dedicated to Potter ,costing around half million dollars by 2009.

The greatest Cash Cow due to the Potter Mania is Warner Bros which has already earned close to 330 million dollars in the opening week of the movie.Everytime a Potter movie releases Warner Bros Stock prices go up, while in the lean period they go down.

Though the last book has been released, it doesn’t spell the end of Potter mania, publishers hope to earn close to 10 million USD, a year through sales of the seven books in future.

“Chipkali”

Lizards in my house are a creative lot. Heres a sneak peek into the kind of gimmicks they can come up with.

Gone are the days when they used to hide behind crevices and get intimated by humans. Lizards consider the well polished granite flooring in my house as their playground. They jaywalk ,trudge,skip and gallivant around my hall without the fear of humans stepping on them.

One fine day when I happen to open my eyes after a brief prayer I find a lizard forming an ornamental necklace over poor Lord Ramas neck.

Two Lizards have formed an orchestra in my bedroom and have vowed to entertain me throughout the day, by their constant droning.

For the first time in my life I caught the sight of a thirsty lizard drinking water from the tank of my potty.



Apart from this they have proved to be nuisance in my kitchen wherein the sight of a lizard gives me jeepers .Food infected by a lizard is supposed to be poisonous.

Considering the fact that they are increasingly multiplying in my house , I have to do something. One solution my dad tried and worked well was pour boiling water on them , when they sneer at me in the kitchen.It immediately kills them.

Now, what I do about the umpteen other lizards in my house. Should I call pest control? Or are there Grandma solutions for such problems?


People please suggest ways to sound the death knell for these darned creatures.


P S: I wonder how people worship these pesky creatures in a Vaisnavite Shrine in Kancheepuram .Maybe in ancient days they did not seem so obtrusive as they are at present.