Why do many bars charge customers for water but give them peanuts for free?
Some bars charge their patrons as much as two pounds for a half-litre bottle of water, while making sure that full bowls of free salted nuts are always within easy reach. Since nuts are more costly to produce than water, shouldn’t it be the other way around?
The key to understanding this practice is to recognise that the terms on which bars offer both water and nuts are dictated by the effect of these commodities on demand for bars’ core product, alcoholic beverages. Nuts and alcoholic beverages are complements. Someone who eats more nuts will demand more beer or spirits. Since nuts are relatively cheap abd each alcoholic drink generates a relatively high profit margin, making nuts freely available tends to increase bars’ profits.
By contrast, water and alcoholic beverages are substitutes. The more water bar customers drink, the fewer alcoholic beverages they will order. So even though water is relatively inexpensive, bars have an incentive to set a high price for it, thereby discouraging its consumption.
Robert H. Frank, The economic naturalist. Versión en español.
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