Check it out! We're listed right behind Tim Worstall's blog (who else could it have been) as the 2nd most active blog at BlogNetBiz.com today with 7 posts (I count 6 excluding this one -- maybe "today" is defined as the last 24 hours?).
At some point today I might manage to squeeze in a little teaching and/or research. Nah!
Speaking of teaching ...
I received my instructor's copy of the new Boyes and Melvin today. On the front it says:
Not For Sale
This work was provided free of charge to an instructor solely for evaluation and/or pedagogical purposes. Sale, resale, or further dissemination of this work will contribute to higher costs of textbooks for students and is prohibited.
On the back:
Help Us Keep the Cost of Textbooks Down
Houghton Mifflin is working hard to keep textbook costs down. If you did not request this text or do not wish to keep it for further use, you can return it by contacting your local sales representative ... We appreciate your efforts to help us keep the cost of textbooks down.
It is well known that the costs of textbooks are so high because of inelastic demand. The consumers (students) are not so sensitive to price increases because their professors tell them what to buy. Being profit maximizers, publishers raise the price until the drop off in sales outdoes the price increase.
The production cost of these books is way below the price and not many textbook authors get rich off of expensive books. So, where do the high revenues go?
If Houghton Mifflin really wanted to keep the cost of textbooks down they would not discourage the formation of the secondary (i.e., used book) market and not insist on new editions every 2 or 3 years.
The Not For Sale label might work in other disciplines but I doubt if it will change behavior among economics professors who understand that an active secondary market is the best way to keep costs down. Plus, that's my beer money you're messing with.
A message to publishers: if you don't want me to sell a book to a book buyer, don't send me a book that I don't ask for. And I'm not going to contact my local sales rep about giving the book back.
