March 2017 – Page 3 – Sound Economics

The Broken Textbook Market

Posted on March 2, 2017 by Katherine Tannehill — No Comments ↓

On average, an undergraduate student will spend $1200 annually on textbooks. I have become quite thrifty with my textbook shopping over the years. I ask friends if I can buy their old books, I check with the local libraries, and I scour the internet for deals. This year, I even waited to buy my textbooks until specific homework problems were assigned out of them, hoping I could skim by without the professor noticing- a tactic I do not recommend. Even after all of this, I still end up spending hundreds of dollars every semester on books. What makes textbook prices Continue reading The Broken Textbook Market→

Maple Syrup: A Challenge to the Cartel

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Max Coleman — No Comments ↓

Did you know about 72% of the world’s maple syrup supply comes from Quebec, Canada? To clarify, I’m not talking about brands like Aunt Jemima or Mrs. Butterworth’s which use mostly corn syrup, but the authentic, came-from-a-maple-tree stuff. The stuff that costs $40 a gallon, not $8 a gallon. Some quick facts about maple syrup production. Maple syrup is generally made from the sap of either sugar maples or red maples. Sap production requires cold nights and temperate days, and is highly variable. The sap is transferred from the trees to the “sugar shack” by spouts using tubing and gravity. Once Continue reading Maple Syrup: A Challenge to the Cartel→