College Students vs Rising Textbook Prices

NPR's "Planet Money" blog has an interesting piece on the tussle over college textbook pricing. The nominal cost of the (physical) books keeps skyrocketing, but the amount students actually pay out has stayed remarkably level.

The reason has much to do with students' stubbornness and innovation and with the antique models textbook publishers have been using. The answer for both sides may be electronic texts, which can be kept down in price so students may be willing to buy them and for which there is no used market so publishers can keep forcing students to buy new copies every year.