Used Bookstores

Of course, the Internet has been a boon to used bookstores. How could anyone have thought otherwise? The Internet massively reduces the costs of searching for used books, making it possible for you to access the inventories of bookstores all over the country, rather than those in your geographic area. When a huge transaction cost is reduced to nearly zero, it should be no surprise that this enables more transactions. No longer do you have to spend countless hours searching for that out-of-print Hardy Boys book -- three dozen copies are available in seconds. (It is still unparalleled fun to go to bookstores in person, mind you, both for the experience and for the serendipitous findings.)