The article why are textbooks so expensive discusses issues concerned with marketing of textbooks to students. It also focuses on the market, supply, and demand for both new and used textbooks. The market for new and used books differ greatly that is, new books receive low sales as compared to used books. This is because many students prefer buying used books since they are cheaper as compared to the new books. Although the demand for these books is very high, the sales for these books are very low. This because many students prefer borrowing books from their tutors and paying a token for the service. However, students pay this fee because the tutors use the power of their final grades to have the money paid. Following the high demand for these books and with expectations to sell many copies, the supply of textbooks is very high. The cost per copy of a textbook determines how many copies a bookstore, a publisher or an author will sell. For instance, in the huge introductory markets, many copies are sold. This is because they keep their prices competitive and appealing to their customers.
Therefore in order to improve these sales, sellers need to price each copy to match with the expected sales just like economics argues that low volume is equal to higher individual cost per unit. The major determinant for both supply and demand for textbooks is their price. Nevertheless, the demand for both new and used text books is elastic because changes in price have a large effect to the quantity of the books demanded. This is to imply that when the price of a textbook is increased, many students will be unable to buy it although they need the textbook. On the other hand, when this prices go down, many students will be willing and able to purchase such books. However, the supply for new and used textbooks is inelastic and this is because the supply seems to be fixed. This is to imply that there is a small effect on the supply with respect to changes in price(Krugman, & Wells, 2005). Publishers, professors, and other authors are producing books without an expectation of making huge profit. This is because many of authors have come to realize that this business cannot make one rich.
The illustration above shows the quantity of text books demanded with respect to their prices. This chart clearly indicates that when the price of books is high, the quantity demanded is low this is because students will be willing to buy the books but will not be able to purchase them. However, the graph also indicates that, when the prices are low, then the quantity of books demanded will go up. This is because at this time many students will be willing and able to purchase this books. For instance, as the price increase from P1 to P2 the quantity demanded will decrease from Q1 to Q2. This is to show that their will be a fall in demand indicated by a shift from D2 to D1 and vice versa. This is a clear indication that the article “Why textbooks are expensive”, adhere to law of demand which provides that the relationship between the price and the quantity demanded should be an inverse relationship. This is whereby one variable decrease as the other one is increasing and vice versa (Krugman, & Wells, 2005).
Q1 Q2
The chart above shows an illustration for a supply curve. From the chart, it can be concluded that as the price increases, the quantity of textbooks supplied by the textbook sellers also increase. This is because the textbook sellers will be willing and able to supply this books in order to maximize their profits. This is well indicated by a move from P1 to P2 which implies a move from Q1 to Q2 thus a shift from S1 to S2. On the other hand, a decrease in price of the textbooks will lead to adecrease in their supply by the sellers. This is because the sellers will be not willing to supply books where there is no ready demand for them. From this article, many students prefer buying used textbooks because they are cheaper whiich impels sellers to provide more of the used textbooks as compared to new books.
References Krugman, P. R., & Wells, R. (2005). Microeconomics. New York: Worth.
