RE: taking out the volume increase as factor

["Rick Anderson" <rickand@unr.edu>]

> I guess we all want to know, did they or didn't they. If they did why are
> prices still up 2 to 3 times inflation??

I think general inflation figures are a red herring.  General inflation is
an average, and that means that inflation is higher in some industries
than in others.  If general inflation is, say, 3%, that doesn't
necessarily mean that 5% inflation in the widget market is unreasonable.

To me, this means that the relation between Elsevier's price increases and
general inflation is a poor indicator of reasonableness, and the real
question is whether Elsevier's price increases are reasonable.  The next
real question is whether, reasonable or not, their price increases are
supportable in the long run.  We can argue about whether 6.5% is
reasonable; there's no arguing, however, with the simple fact that if you
start with a high price and compound it at an annual rate of 6.5% you will
quickly end up with a price that no one can afford to pay.  Elsevier is
seeing the consequences already at Cornell and elsewhere.

-------------
Rick Anderson
Director of Resource Acquisition
University of Nevada, Reno Libraries
(775) 784-6500 x273
rickand@unr.edu