I wonder if entry is cheap. To effectively enter this market, you have to do more than edit articles and print copies of the journal. You have to attract valued contributions and thereby, readers. I believe contributors send articles to journals on the basis of their brand name. How can a journal build its brand name? Have any journals sought to build a brand name by paying well-known scholars for their contributions for several years?
The most expensive academic journals are in the fields of science, technology and medicine. European commercial publishers who charge thousands for an annual institutional subscription own the most prestigious of these journals. A few years ago a few American universities looked into starting up their own competitors to the STM leaders. Nothing came of it. I suspect they discovered that entry costs were high as was the risk of failure. Academic books cost a lot because their markets are small (300-500 copies on average per title) while production costs are relatively high. Total production costs for an academic press run of 500 copies are in the $30,000 range. Unit sales are so small in part because universities heavily subsidize book production. Even if all the subsidies were dedicated to the demand side (or were eliminated), academic books would be expensive compared to the average trade book. Without production subsidies, however, there would many fewer producers. And the world would be a better place. John Samples Cato Institute -----Original Message----- From: Michael Etchison [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, June 21, 2002 1:44 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: fantastically entertaining paper Robin Hanson: Michael E. Etchison wrote: > >an industry (academic journals) where . . . entry is cheap > >>As a non-academic, I have to wonder -- if getting in is so cheap, why is getting a copy so expensive?<< >Standard armchair econ question, really. Yes, I know, and I know what "we'd suspect." I was wondering if anyone had some grounded explanations. Michael Michael E. Etchison Texas Wholesale Power Report MLE Consulting www.mleconsulting.com 1423 Jackson Road Kerrville, TX 78028 (830) 895-4005
