Planet Money

Everything’s more expensive!! Pet Care!! Concert Tickets!! (Two Indicators)

November 5, 2025

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  • The rising cost of concert tickets is driven by primary market mispricing (setting prices too low) which fuels an active, often problematic, secondary resale market dominated by bots, despite legal efforts to curb them. 
  • The surge in pet care costs is attributed to increased operating expenses for veterinary practices (labor, supplies, medication), profit pressure from corporate ownership, and increased consumer willingness to pay for premium pet services post-pandemic. 
  • Baumol's Cost Disease explains why service costs like veterinary care rise faster than general inflation: productivity gains from technology are hard to achieve in labor-intensive fields, necessitating higher wages to attract workers. 

Segments

Ticket Pricing Philosophies
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(00:00:23)
  • Key Takeaway: Artists like Molly Obamsuwin prioritize accessibility by capping ticket prices, contrasting with industry leaders like Live Nation’s CEO who argue tickets have been historically underpriced.
  • Summary: Composer Molly Obamsuwin aims to keep tickets affordable ($150 max) to maintain an accessible audience base, rejecting the idea of success curating an audience solely by income bracket. Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino believes concert tickets are significantly underpriced and have been for a long time. The price disparity is highlighted by a Bruno Mars ticket example costing $850, showing concert ticket inflation outpaces general inflation.
Ticket Bot Scourge
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(00:03:50)
  • Key Takeaway: Reseller bots create havoc by purchasing large ticket blocks instantly, listing non-existent ‘spec tickets,’ and forcing venues to manually void transactions, leading to fans being denied entry.
  • Summary: Venue operator Lauren Wayne identifies bot activity through pre-sale listings and massive overnight purchases (e.g., 500 tickets for a venue under 2,000 capacity). These bots often list ‘spec tickets’ that do not exist on secondary sites like StubHub, despite platform policies. When staff void these purchases, fans who bought them unknowingly can be denied entry at the door, sometimes after paying several times the face value.
Market Accountability and Regulation
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(00:05:49)
  • Key Takeaway: The secondary ticket market faces finger-pointing among resellers, resale platforms like StubHub, and primary sellers like Ticketmaster, leading to FTC lawsuits and state-level legislative action.
  • Summary: The FTC sued Ticketmaster/Live Nation, alleging coordination with resellers and profiting from marked-up tickets, accusations the companies deny while citing billion-dollar investments in anti-bot tech. Maine enacted legislation banning bots, making spec tickets illegal, and imposing a 10% cap on resale markups, which successfully eliminated manual voiding work at the State Theater. Economist Alan Sorensen notes the secondary market serves an economic function by correcting primary market mispricing where artists set prices below equilibrium.
Pet Care Cost Drivers
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(00:10:47)
  • Key Takeaway: Veterinary service costs have risen 41% in five years, significantly outpacing general inflation (25%), largely due to increased operational expenses and the inherent labor-intensity of the profession.
  • Summary: Overall consumer prices rose about 25% over five years, but veterinary services increased by 41%, causing many owners to skip necessary care. Vet Adam Hetchko cites rising costs for medication and supplies, but emphasizes that labor costs (wages for vets and staff) exceed 50% of practice overhead. This dynamic is explained by Baumol’s Cost Disease, where productivity gains are limited in human-labor-dependent services, requiring higher wages to retain staff.
Pet Care Pricing Factors
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(00:16:42)
  • Key Takeaway: Beyond operational costs, pet care inflation is influenced by increased profit pressure from private equity ownership and a cultural shift where pandemic-strengthened owner-pet bonds drive willingness to pay premium prices.
  • Summary: Corporate ownership by private equity firms places greater pressure on vets to generate profits compared to independent practices. Furthermore, increased pet companionship during pandemic lockdowns strengthened bonds, making owners more attuned to their pets’ needs and willing to pay for expensive services like annual blood testing. Veterinarians advise regular checkups to catch issues early, though pet health insurance is also becoming more expensive.