A Further Comment on the Cost of Education

We have previously blogged on the cost of education, in particular on the cost of textbooks. There was an article in the New York Times online edition yesterdaythat caught our attention and deserves a comment. The article, entitled "$200 Textbook vs. Free. You Do the Math", discusses the cost of textbooks.  Click here for the article.

Reputable publishers help overcome the asymmetric information problem associated with textbooks. When you purchase a book, you have no idea whether the author is qualified to write on that subject or not. Publishers require that their authors be qualified if they wish to maximize profits. Therefore, they are willing to spend money to determine qualifications. After manuscripts are written, publishers hire other experts in the field to read them and comment. Being involved in this process has shown me that first drafts are not always correct or current. I have found outdated policies, and poor references such as VCRs and Atari game systems, not to mention the usually spelling and grammatical errors. I do not proofread manuscripts for free.

The problem with open source (free) textbooks is that the buyer must incur the cost of determining the qualifications of the author(s). It may cost you more than $200 to determine whether an open source calculus text is accurate. You do the math!