Article content

As a student in the late 2000s, Brad Dolan would go to whatever lengths he could to save a few bucks on textbooks. He would scour the Internet trying to hunt down international editions of the thick tomes on his Carleton University course reading lists, which could sometimes be found — and shipped — for a bit cheaper than the stock at the campus bookstore. He hunted down older students who had finished the same courses, hoping they still had their course materials that he could buy used, at a discount.

“I would be messaging students who were in the course prior and arranging meetups, doing all this really painful stuff just to save $20 on a book,” said Dolan, 31. “And at the end of the year I’d try to sell it back and get very little money for it.”

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Fighting Big Textbook: How students are trying to save money as prices keep going up Back to video

As it happens, Dolan was studying finance and marketing. But even for students who aren’t enrolled in business, though they may not realize it, the peculiar structure of the academic textbook market is typically their first introduction to economics — and specifically the effects of anti-competitive market barriers.