Detah on Nostr: Early in my grad school career, there was a question on a microecon exam, that went ...

Early in my grad school career, there was a question on a microecon exam, that went as follows: A professor receives a textbook from a publishing company for free, hoping that he will use their textbook for one of his classes. The professor has no intention of using that text, so he puts it out on the hallway table free for other grad students to take for free. A grad student picks it up. Takes it home, reads it. A year later, he takes it back to the same building where he got it. While he was there, he is talking to a secretary in the econ office and she shows interest in the book. The grad student was going to put the book back on the free table, but instead gave it to the secretary. The secretary took the book home, found it incomprehensible and decides to sell it on ebay. She sells it on ebay and buys a coffee maker with the money. Who paid for the coffee machine?