Not many people fully realize the great service the Mises bookstore provides the Austrian enthusiast. I mean, almost everyone will tell you that the Mises Institute sells great books at a great price, but fewer people than should be the case really understand the implications of this fact. The immense benefit of having the Mises Institute becomes clearer once you become aware of just how much literature in the Austrian tradition actually exists. It becomes even clearer when you appreciate just how expensive much of this literature is.
Routledge provides an excellent example of what I am talking about. The hardcover version of Steven Horwitz’ Microfoundations and Macroeconomics (which, by the way, is a spectacular book) goes for $142, while the paperback is valued at $33. Kevin Dowd’s Laissez Faire Banking is priced at $180 and $66 for hardcover and paperback, respectively. In Routledge’s defense, their books are becoming cheaper and cheaper, but generally not cheap enough to be truly affordable to the younger generation of up and coming Austrian scholars.
Check out these biographical collection of essays on Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek, published by Edward Elgar Publishing; $409 and $776, respectively! They are both huge books, but completely unaffordable. I figure they are no longer in print, but my point still stands.
All these publishing companies are interested in staying in business. If they could lower their prices, I am sure they would. The books they publish simply are not in “high demand” and they are printed in relatively small batches. So, I am definitely not attacking these publishes in any sense. I understand where they are coming from and the pressures which exist to maintain their relatively high prices.
My point, rather, is to highlight the great service the Mises Institute presents by providing similar books for much, much cheaper prices. The Mises Institute’s business model is different. The Institute relies mostly on donations. The purpose of the bookstore is obviously not to score large profits, because if it was it would be failed business model. The bookstore is there to provide good literature at a cheap price, and hopefully break even on each investment or make a small income. The bookstore is there thanks to the great people who donate to the Ludwig von Mises Institute.
Where else could you expect to buy a hardcover edition of Mises’ Human Action for $20 (half off what it was originally priced at, by the way), and a paperback edition for $10. Murray Rothbard’s Conceived in Liberty, one time valued at over $100, can now be purchased for a measly $25. William H. Hutt’s great Theory of Idle Resources (one of Hutt’s three books which makes up some of the greatest ‘Austrian’ macroeconomic work between the end of the Second World War and the Austrian revival) is selling at only $9. The list goes on. The bookstore is constantly looking for ways to cut production costs, as well. Not to increase their profit margins, but rather to lower their prices.
The Mises bookstore provides the young student and aspiring scholar a great opportunity, by providing the work of great thinkers at very low costs. I personally have come to fully realize what this mean after about two or three years of suffering as an Austrian-oriented bibliophile. In fact, I am not sure I would have ever been so interested in Austrian economics had it not been for the Institute. My first two Austrian books were Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson and Jesús Huerta de Soto’s Money, Bank Credit and Economic Cycles (which I bought, I think, because of a fluke or a very short sale, where the price fell from ~$40 to $35 [it’s back down to $35 now]). It was de Soto’s book which introduced me to Austrian capital theory and which sparked my interest in exploring the subject of price coordination. Since then, I have become more and more interested in more obscure Austrian titles, which oftentimes forces me to buy these books at higher prices (when I can afford them), but the Mises Institute is still there providing great literature at ridiculously low prices (the perfect example is Hutt’s Idle Resources; you will not find that book of such quality, for that price, anywhere else).
One last example is constituted by a soon to be published Mises edition of Robert Higgs’ The Transformation of the American Economy. I purchased this book maybe about a year ago, when I became aware of it through an article published by Mises Daily (I have always been a great fan of Higgs; I attended Cato University 2009 in most part just to attend his lecture). I no longer remember what I bought it for, although I am sure I can look it up if I really wanted to. It probably was not expensive; I bought it used. Higgs’ book is, hands down, the best book on the subject of the American economy between 1865 and 1914. In regards to monetary history, it is not as detailed as Friedman and Schwartz’ Monetary History of the United States, but it is much broader and covers more aspects of the American economy. It is, without question, a book anybody interested in the era should have. Unfortunately, it became out of print with the prior publisher (Wiley) and circulation narrowed.
A few weeks ago, I submitted a review of the book to Jeffrey Tucker. After coming into contact with Robert Higgs and the publisher, Mr. Tucker made me aware that the Mises Institute was on its way to publishing a new edition (with a new introduction by Higgs). This encapsulates what the Mises bookstore provides us. It has taken a book which may have had the misfortune of obscurity and will soon republish it, putting it back into circulation. Whereas today few people are aware of its existence and even fewer are able to purchase it, pretty soon the book will be available for mass consumption. To a bibliophile and a Higgs fan such as myself, this is a market miracle.
Out of any other book publisher, the Mises Institute, I think, is doing the most work in fomenting the next generation of Austrian scholars. I hope that more people can begin to appreciate the full scope of its implications. I further hope that — and I am confident they will — the Mises Institute bookstore can continue to provide these books at such affordable prices. For those who are willing and able, I think the bookstore is a great cause to contribute to with a donation. While not all of the bookstore’s clients are aware of the importance of the Mises Institute’s donors, these donors are the pillars on which the modern, popular Austrian movement is based on. A thanks to the Institute’s staff, the bookstore, and its financial benefactors is in order.
{ 24 comments }
Wow, this is a really kind and much appreciated post!
One thing to add about those pricey publishers though: you know who buys those books? Libraries. Libraries who subscribe to the entire series. Tax-funded libraries with an inelastic demand curve. In other words, you and I buy those books but we don’t have access to them. End the state control of education and subsidies thereof and these companies would not be long for the world.
Please don’t be too hard on the public library. It gives free access for ordinary members of the public like you and me to a vast collection of literature. Take Jonathan Carp below complaining about the fact that he got a battered copy of the Human Action from his library. Sounds like the pessimist complaining about the hole and ignoring the donut does he not? While appreciating the fact that a fresh copy of Human Action is available at an affordable price at the Mises Book Store, why overlook that had he not been able to read the battered copy, he may probably not have inculcated the capacity to appreciate the fresh one.
And speaking of public libraries, I have wondered if the Mises Institute had made any efforts to have these books available at public libraries. Maybe Jonathan Carp can donate a fresh copy to his local library.
The Mises Institute has done one better and made their literature available online for free. No need to drive to the bookstore, since you can read it from the comfort of your home.
Also, slightly related: if you live in San Diego, thanks to a generous donor, there is a café (Café Libertalia) that has on display a large collection of Mises Institute books. These are available for purchase, or you can read them for free in the café.
Ah yes. How the concept of electronic books has revolutionized the way we read. I did not touch upon that. By bringing the marginal cost close to zero, books have become more accessible than they ever have been. Before then the library was the most affordable way to access good books. Now their future looks bleak.
I love Internet invective as much as the next guy, but I wasn’t complaining. I was contrasting. The librarian was very helpful and diligent and did a commendable job hunting down a copy for me. But that doesn’t mean the Mises Store isn’t an improvement.
Ten years ago I went hunting for a copy of Human Action on a suggestion from a friend. I eventually got it a month later via interlibrary loan- a battered hardcover with some of the pages falling out. Making these works available without biblio-spelunking is a tremendous public service.
Mixed emotions about this article.
On the one hand, I concur with his praise for the Mises bookstore and the wonderful job it’s done over the years, making great ideas available at great prices.
On the other hand, the author makes no mention of the e-book phenomenon, and how it’s changing EVERYTHING about the book selling/ publishing business. The price pressures he mentions (whether due to public library purchases, short expensive print runs) will be a thing of the past, or irrelevant, in the very near future.
One by one I see my serious bibliophile friends buying Nooks, Kindles, Ipads–succumbing to the superior cost/reading/collecting experience e-books offer.
This Atlantic cartoon http://i.imgur.com/FSIRU.jpg is meant to be sad. But it isn’t. It’s a miracle.
And there is no way high-priced hard copy publishers can stand in the way of the revolution it represents.
Jeff,
Point taken, but fwiw I prefer the book to the e-book. But then again, I was still buying CDs up until about two years ago when I bought my first Ipod.
Gary North penned a piece on this very topic some years ago. He defies your notion here…calling it “Picard’s Syndrome”
That piece on “Picard’s Syndrome” from 2003 hasn’t aged well. Excerpts:
“Barnes & Noble recently announced that it is getting out of the e-book business. E-books don’t sell.”
“If a book doesn’t have a binding — if it isn’t suitable for reading in bed — well, it just isn’t a real book. That’s what most book buyers believe.”
“There is one area where Picard’s Syndrome has been defeated: standard encyclopedias. The day of the $2,000, printed, years out-of-date, 20-volume encyclopedia is gone. It is now on a disk, updated yearly, for $89 or less.”
Now Amazon sells more ebooks than hard copies and when you say “encyclopedia,” most folks think of Wikipedia which is free.
Near the end he says:
“But if I had a book reading device that looks like a book, feels like a book, and lets me store (say) 500 books that are searchable by text or (at my discretion) keywords, Barnes & Noble can kiss me goodbye.”
It’s ironic that Barnes and Noble is now one of the leading sellers of ereader devices that exceeds his description and for only slightly more than $100. Hard copy books are destined to become specialty items for book collectors and the like.
The author does admit that the ebook revolution is coming someday, but didn’t realize how fast we would be getting there.
JeffCrow, one thing about the ebook: this is mostly alive in the commercial sector. The scholarly market is, as usually, woefully behind, and, meanwhile, the work of several generations is being effectively burned by high prices and strict copyright. It is a ghastly tragedy. Mises.org does everything possible to keep Austrian texts from this fate.
I got my copy of the first edition of MAN ECONOMY AND STATE for free 37 years ago. I fished it out of a waste basket; my university library was discarding a copy because someone had given them two.
Not to hijack the post, but it occurred to me: where are all the usual Mises blog posters denying the legitimacy of “copyrights”? According to the copyright deniers, shouldn’t anyone be able to copy a Mises book and then turn around and sell it himself without fear of being prosecuted or being sued for damages?
Heck, anyone should be able to copy every book in the Mises store and sell it for his own profit.
You know, just like those who sell “knock-off,” copyrighted handbags and sunglasses should be able to do so.
Everyone uses the same argument, but we never see it actually happen.
Yes, that’s the way it should be. What’s your point?
For any book released under the CC-BY-3.0 license (which most in the Mises Store are) they most certainly can, provided they meet a couple of requirements (such as attribution). Again, what’s your point?
A “license”? Sorry, that’s simply a variation of copyright. I should be able to copy any book without permission, attribution, acknowledgment, royalty, or any other obligation towards the original creator of the work, just as the handbag copiers do so — correct?
Again, go for it.
Yeah, if you can make a buck reaching markets we’ve overlooked, that’s great for everyone. Competition is good.
As Stephan Kinsella and others have painstakingly pointed out many times, yes, that is the way it should be. But also as has been pointed out many times, thanks to IP advocates like you, the current world we live in is one in which copyright is not only automatic upon creation, but virtually unrelinquishable.
Yes, if it were up to us, there would be no such thing as IP laws. But because of people like you, not only do they exist, and not only do you not have to apply for copyrights — they are automatically thrust on you, whether you want them or not — but there is virtually no way to opt out. The CC-BY-3.0 is so far the best option available.
What you are doing is the equivalent of taking over all the roadways by force, and taking other people’s money by force, using it to construct even more roads, leaving everyone no other way to get around, and then berating people for hypocrites when they object to government force and also use the roads…as if they had a choice in the matter.
The premise behind this entire article seemed odd to me. The article was praising the re-publication in hard copy of various Austrian books. However, the market is moving swiftly to digital ebooks for most reading. Amazon and Barnes and Noble have sold millions and millions of ereaders and ereading software is widely available for all computing platforms including phones.
There will always be a place for hard-copy books, but hard-copy books will be a specialty area like vinyl records, used CDs, hard-copy newspapers, photographic film, and videotapes are now. Normal daily reading will be almost all digital.
Until we get to this digital nirvana, however, the book publishing world will have to re-fight the DRM wars that music and video have already been through. Remember that iTunes originally had DRM encryption applied to every song, but eventually was allow by the music publishers to remove the DRM. Most commercial books from the major publishers now come with DRM, but are a huge pain to users who just want the freedom to read on whatever device (ereader, phone, computer) they have handy. The LvMI offers all of their epubs without DRM which is a huge plus.
Lately I’ve read dozens of books from the LvMI, but all have been ebooks of some sort. As a recent owner of a Nook, I’m reading more books now than every before and many of them are from the LvMI.
The change is coming and I’m glad to see that the LvMI is at the front edge of the digital publishing revolution. Keep up the good work guys.
The rest of your post doesn’t really support your opening sentence. You mention how the market is moving to epub, but also mention how the institute is at the front of the curve on that. You mention how epub makes praising physical books seem odd, but also admit there will always be a place for the latter.
But more than that, I think you miss a very important point. The service the store provides is an important one not only because there is obviously still a huge demand for physical books, but also because that is still the only form in which many of these texts exist. The LvMI doesn’t hold copyright to all the books in the store…which is why not all are available for free download. Therefore, offering a physical copy for sale is the only way some of these can be read. I’m sure Jeff Tucker could tell you of dozens of books that were saved from obscurity only thanks to the institute obtaining rights to republish and sell a book in the store…but of course the copyright holder will not allow free digital distribution.
This article is right on the money. The influence and value of the store cannot be understated.
I also meant to add that the continued conversion to digital ebooks will also put a continuous downward pressure on the price of all books. Without the cost of physical printing and transportation, a publisher can theoretically still make a profit on a book that only costs a few dollars. The sweet spot for smartphone apps is $1 to $5 each. I expect most book prices to settle in that same zone in a few years. Publishers are still trying to keep ebook prices on the same level as the hard copies, but competition (and “pirating”) will inevitably drive down ebook prices. The free ebooks from LvMI will compete well in this environment.
I also love the feel of a physical book, but I have to say, nothing beats having BOTH the physical and electronic version at your fingertips. When you can search the text for anything you want, and get comfy with a book, it’s a bliss.
One for the Mises Store and the Library, too!
The store is great but shipping leaves much to be desired. Not using peanuts or bubbles = damaged goods on arrival.
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