tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7464708.post671154507706801361..comments2024-03-22T06:05:36.544-04:00Comments on Kids Prefer Cheese: Books Cost Too Much! So I wrote a blogpost.Mungowitzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02340064320347875601noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7464708.post-306192634998639582017-06-04T10:06:32.541-04:002017-06-04T10:06:32.541-04:00I would guess that printing a modern textbook is s...I would guess that printing a modern textbook is slightly more expensive than you think. They're not just black-and-white pages of text. They have lots of color, photos, and carefully-designed layouts. That's not to say that cost is the primary determinant of high textbook prices, but I think the cost is higher than you think it is. <br /><br />With the number of free online alternatives, I've moved to making the textbook optional. I'm also experimenting with FlipItEcon in Micro as a way to incentivize students to prepare for class. It's only $40 per semester, and is most of a textbook, in video form. Mike Hammockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04703852175497283883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7464708.post-51252231193632040702017-06-03T16:25:09.143-04:002017-06-03T16:25:09.143-04:00Nobody buys textbooks, the pdf's are always av...Nobody buys textbooks, the pdf's are always available somewhere on the web. Also, good lecture notes are usually way better than the books.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7464708.post-10766486495706459012017-06-03T06:32:21.444-04:002017-06-03T06:32:21.444-04:00When I studied in the university, I always wondere...When I studied in the university, I always wondered about that. Most textbooks (at least in engineering) are written by professors that have a job that is paid by taxpayers (to a large degree) at least in Germany. Why are these books priced so high? IS this due to the retailers, or the authors?<br /><br />The same goes for research papers and their results. The big portals and publishers want 30 Dollar or more per paper (if you dont have a general university access).<br />This is incredible, seeing that in most countries the tax payers paid for this research. It should be free for the public imo.Maxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00950263043962148304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7464708.post-14690252034287185972017-06-03T03:36:51.243-04:002017-06-03T03:36:51.243-04:00The part about network effects isn't obvious t...The part about network effects isn't obvious to me. Why should textbooks have network effects?Brandon Berghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14490308321355825389noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7464708.post-53590064528416501362017-06-02T23:49:58.743-04:002017-06-02T23:49:58.743-04:00"Amazingly, new text prices would likely be e..."Amazingly, new text prices would likely be even higher without this form of competition, where old copies of the winning books compete against new ones."<br /><br />This is bad economics. In fact, we should expect precisely the opposite. This is because the potential resale value is priced into the original sale price. Consider as evidence the much less expensive digital rentals. Admittedly, digital is not identical to print, but pretty close -- as your own comments emphasize, the marginal cost of paper and binding is minuscule by comparison -- so digital rentals look pretty much like textbooks written in disappearing ink!blinkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14029828823460781386noreply@blogger.com