Why Textbooks Cost So Much

Why Textbooks Cost So Much
FILE - In this Oct. 22, 2010 file photo, student textbooks for rent sit on the shelves at the City College Bookstore in New York. Every year, Beloit College in Beloit, Wis., releases its Mindset List to give a snapshot of the world view of the incoming freshmen class. From this year's list, before freshmen buy an assigned textbook, they will check to see whether it's available for rent or purchase as an e-book. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 22, 2010 file photo, student textbooks for rent sit on the shelves at the City College Bookstore in New York. Every year, Beloit College in Beloit, Wis., releases its Mindset List to give a snapshot of the world view of the incoming freshmen class. From this year's list, before freshmen buy an assigned textbook, they will check to see whether it's available for rent or purchase as an e-book. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

STUDENTS can learn a lot about economics when they buy Greg Mankiw’s “Principles of Economics”—even if they don’t read it. Like many popular textbooks, it is horribly expensive: $292.17 on Amazon. Indeed, the nominal price of textbooks has risen more than fifteenfold since 1970, three times the rate of inflation (see chart).

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