The only comment I have on the Internet Colossus vs. Publishing Giant fight I have is that... well, as an economist, I'm quite to seeing heavily distorted, simplified¹, misunderstood, or misrepresented versions of intro-level concepts used to justify some bit of political rhetoric. This fight, however, is the first time I can recall price elasticity of demand, rather than supply and demand curves or price controls, being used in this annoyingly disingenuous way. (Gabe Newell once made similar points about Valve's experience with Steam sales, but (a) the video game market is distinctly different from the book market, and (b) it wasn't in the context of an extended dispute between a gigantic retailer and a publisher over price points.)

>Most bookstores (including the chains) delegate to at least some
>degree the upkeep of a section to a single, or small group, of
>employees (not to say there isn't overlap, but).

Yep -- there's a good chance that that particular cashier was the same person responsible for getting that very same manga in stock. :)

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"Mathematics brought rigor to economics. Unfortunately, it also brought mortis."
- Kenneth Boulding

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1. "Elided" might be a better term -- in intro econ, we already teach simplified models and theory, but in this case I mean that key components are omitted, with the resulting product losing even basic pedagogical value, let alone any sort of predictive power.