On a slightly more serious and elaborate note now: the 'back-to-classroom' conundrum in UK universities shows full well all the limits&weaknesses of 'markets' as vehicles of coordination 1/

one of the first things comparative political economy teaches is that centrally-planned, socialist systems were inefficient in adjusting to contingencies (like food shortages, or environmental crises) 2/

so 'markets' were wheeled in to help 'adjust' to the challenges posed by the 'globalizing', 'accelerating' world. all good so far? great. 3/

in market planning, universities rely on fees from international (overseas) students to adjust for any variation in income from 'domestic', home students; something that became a particularly big question-mark in AY 2020-21 in the UK, because of deferrals, A-levels flop, etc. 4/

(they also rely on 'minimizing' risk - i.e. sacking contingent staff, not renewing 'unprofitable' programmes, etc., but that's a separate story) 5/

but because there is *no* authority nor process for central decision-making - not university management, not the state, not the unions - there is no-one who can *take* the decision to shift all teaching online, with full responsibility. 6/

...and, given that 'markets' decide, and markets, as we know, are 'just' agglomerations of individual preferences, we *cannot* know how the students (pardon, 'consumers') will react. which is why universities have to open campuses, only to shut them down after Covid outbreaks. 7/

in other words, this isn't an 'anomaly' produced by challenges posed by the 'unforeseeable' Covid-19 pandemic; it is a logical, expected, and regular consequence of the 'just-in-time' delivery of higher education, which has been the dominant model for a while now. 8/

in sum, the inevitable Covid outbreaks on campuses - which is what the UK is almost inevitably marching towards - are not 'market failures'; they are how markets are supposed to work. 9/

Also, none of this is inevitable or surprising; Covid outbreaks are the logical consequence of higher education institutions' prioritizing of one kind of assets (real estate; fee income) over another (academic staff and students). /end