The Pricing of Economics Books

Using data as reported in the JEL in 2000 and 1985, the authors examine the pricing and other characteristics of books. There has been a substantial rise in book prices, even in real terms, between the two years, which the smaller rise in average page length appears insufficient to justify. A major factor behind the rise would appear to be the increasing importance of foreign presses that not only sell at a higher average price than U.S. presses but are increasingly likely to do so. University presses and other not-for-profit publishers sell at substantially lower prices than commercial publishing houses and are more likely to publish in paperback than commercial publishing houses. The discount on paperbacks appears to have been relatively stable in the two years.