The typical reason people see ebooks as being too expensive is that, post-agency, they often cost more than the hardcover edition of the same title. Since it is fairly obvious that the cost of producing and distributing the ebook is substantially less than the cost of producing and distributing the hardcover book many people feel there's something fishy going on there.
I'd add that if you're right and it is more profitable for ebook publishers to charge more because ebook buyers are typically more affluent that, by itself, suggests that there are issues with ebook competition. In an appropriately competitive market we'd expect prices to be more related to the supplier's costs (and the costs of alternatives like getting a book from a different publisher or getting the hardcover) than they would be to the customers ability-to-pay.
"In an appropriately competitive market we'd expect prices to be more related to the supplier's costs (and the costs of alternatives like getting a book from a different publisher or getting the hardcover) than they would be to the customers ability-to-pay."
This might be true absent IP laws but people who want to read Harry Potter can only get that from one legal source and if the profit maximizing price for Harry Potter was $100 that's what it would cost.
A cotton shirt with a designer logo stiched in at a supply cost of 20 cents can still sell for 50 or 100 times what a near identical shirt without it can. Price does not follow supply cost for these items.
I'd add that if you're right and it is more profitable for ebook publishers to charge more because ebook buyers are typically more affluent that, by itself, suggests that there are issues with ebook competition. In an appropriately competitive market we'd expect prices to be more related to the supplier's costs (and the costs of alternatives like getting a book from a different publisher or getting the hardcover) than they would be to the customers ability-to-pay.