Data is Beautiful

Because 2 of those seats bring in more revenue than 6 of the economy seats, but you'd never fill a plane of only first-class seats at that price point and the benefits compared to the cheaper seats make them more desirable for those who can afford them.

As for shrinkflation, maybe it started earlier with airlines when they started nickel-and-diming people for everything and cutting out in-flight meals and the like. It's crazy to see how the luggage fees and such effectively increased their gross profits by about 33%.