Proposals to Reduce Textbook Costs Miss Their Mark

August 13, 2007 -- -- Michael Granof, a professor of accounting at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas, a textbook author, and the chairman of the UT bookstore, criticizes current solutions for easing textbook costs in an August 12, 2007, New York Times op-ed. The professor contends that current government proposals to intervene in the textbook market ultimately will not solve the high costs of textbooks for students. Instead of strengthening the used-book market targeted by most current federal proposals, Granof proposes changing the institutional arrangements between universities, publishers, and students to emphasize the intellectual content of textbooks rather than the method of delivery. Granoff suggests that textbook publishers ask schools to pay for a “site license” in the same way software companies do, thereby reducing the competition between the used and new book market and lessening the publisher’s need to frequently create new editions.