Pricing behavior of non-profit agencies. The case of blood products.
In this study we examine the pricing behavior of a non-profit agency, the American National Red Cross blood service units. Two alternative hypotheses are presented: one in which the agency maximizes profits,, and one in which output is maximized subject to a breakeven constraint. Following a general approach developed by Eckstein and Fromm , pricing equations for separate blood products are applied to cross-sectional data from Red Cross blood centers to determine the impact of demand, cost, competition, and subsidy variables. The impact of these variables, in particular the impact of the fixed subsidy on price, is shown to be consistent with the output-maximizing model.
D001771:Blood Banks / Q000191:economics*; D001793:Blood Preservation; D005249:Fees and Charges; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009939:Organizations, Nonprofit / Q000191:economics*; D012011:Red Cross; D012044:Regression Analysis; D014481:United States