Tipping, Firm Strategy, and Industrial Organization

Tipping is a phenomenon that has been studied for many years, but is receiving increased attention in recent years. The magnitude of tips is very large – in the US, for example, tips in the food industry alone amount to about $42 billion each year, and tips are given in many other establishments and countries, so annual worldwide tips are much higher than that. Millions of workers in the US alone derive most of their income from tips and tipping is prevalent in numerous countries and occupations. These are all good reasons to study tipping, but it is clear that tipping has created much interest also because it is puzzling from a theoretical perspective. The common assumption in economics that people maximize utility (which is derived by consuming various goods) subject to a budget constraint implies that people should give up money only when they receive something in return. This is not the case, however, when people 2 tip: service has already been provided by the time the tip is given, so the tip is a voluntary payment that does not buy something real (such as improved service) in return. The literature on tipping can be divided to two main areas. The first area can be terme