Well said, but I have never seen any of the add-ons that were worth enough
to influence my choice.
On Wed, May 02, 2001 at 09:25:57PM -0700, Brad DeLong wrote:
> Say, rather, that demand for books is highly inelastic once the
> professor has adopted it, and that total $$$ spent by students
> doesn't play a large role (it does play some role) in the
> professorial adoption decision.
>
> Publishers and editors will say that although they use their local
> post-adoption monopoly power to the fullest to extract revenue from
> students, they and their companies don't get to keep it. They compete
> for course adoptions by spending more and more money on supplements
> and add-ons that they hope will make the professor happy, and make
> him or her adopt the book.
>
> This is a highly dissipative activity: the value of the supplements
> to the professor is much less than the cost to the students of the
> money spent producing them. It is a perfect illustration of how
> monopolistically competitive markets with entry do not produce
> anything like the social optimum...
>
>
> Brad DeLong
>
--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929
Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
