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The Economics of Books

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Author Info
Canoy, Marcel
van Ours, Jan C.
van der Ploeg, Frederick

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Abstract

This chapter analyses the tensions between books and book markets as expressions of culture and books as products in profit-making businesses and includes insights from the theory of industrial organisation. Governments intervene in the market for books through laws concerning prices of books, grants for authors and publishers, a lower value-added tax, public libraries and education in order to stimulate the diversity of books on offer, increase the density of retail outlets and promote reading. An overview of the different ways by which countries differ in terms of market structures and government policies is given. Particular attention is paid to retail price maintenance. Due to differences between European countries it is not a good idea to harmonise European book policies. Our analysis suggests that the book market seems quite able to invent solutions to specific problems of the book trade and that, apart from promoting reading, there is little need for government intervention.

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This chapter was published in: V.A. Ginsburgh & D. Throsby (ed.) , Elsevier, chapter 21, pages 721-761, 2006.

This item is provided by Elsevier in its series Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture with number 1-21.

Handle: RePEc:eee:artchp:1-21

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Related research
This chapter was published in the following book, which is listed on IDEAS:
V.A. Ginsburgh & D. Throsby (ed.), 2006. "Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture," Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Find related papers by JEL classification:
Z19 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Other

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Robert J. Barro & Jong-Wha Lee, 2000. "International Data on Educational Attainment Updates and Implications," NBER Working Papers 7911, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Deneckere, Raymond & Marvel, Howard P & Peck, James, 1997. "Demand Uncertainty and Price Maintenance: Markdowns as Destructive Competition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(4), pages 619-41, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Holahan, William L., 1979. "A theoretical analysis of resale price maintenance," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 411-420, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Steven Salop & Joseph Stiglitz, 1977. "Bargains and ripoffs: a model of monopolistically competitive price dispersion," Special Studies Papers 94, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
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  5. Landes, William M & Posner, Richard A, 1989. "An Economic Analysis of Copyright Law," Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(2), pages 325-63, June.
  6. Rosen, Sherwin, 1981. "The Economics of Superstars," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(5), pages 845-58, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Judith A. Chevalier & Austan Goolsbee, 2002. "Measuring Prices and Price Competition Online: Amazon and Barnes and Noble," Yale School of Management Working Papers ysm290, Yale School of Management. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Clerides, Sofronis K., 2002. "Book value: intertemporal pricing and quality discrimination in the US market for books," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(10), pages 1385-1408, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. S. Bertarelli & R. Censolo, 2000. "Preference for Novelty and Price Behaviour," Working Papers 383, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Università di Bologna. [Downloadable!]
  10. Foster, James E. & Horowitz, Andrew W., 1996. "Complimentarily yours: Free examination copies and textbook prices," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 85-99. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Simon Latcovich & Howard Smith, 2001. "Pricing, Sunk Costs, and Market Structure Online: Evidence from," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(2), pages 217-234, Summer.
  12. Akerlof, George A, 1970. "The Market for 'Lemons': Quality Uncertainty and the Market Mechanism," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 84(3), pages 488-500, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Howard P. Marvel & Stephen McCafferty, 1984. "Resale Price Maintenance and Quality Certification," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 15(3), pages 346-359, Autumn. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Frederick van der Ploeg, 2005. "The Making of Cultural Policy: A European Perspective," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo GmbH. [Downloadable!]
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  15. Ottaviano, G.I.P. & Thisse, J.-F., 1999. "Monopolistic Competition, Multiproduct Firms and Optimum Product Diversity," Papers 9919, Catholique de Louvain - Center for Operations Research and Economics.
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  16. Yetkiner, I. Hakan & Horvath, Csilla, 2000. "Macroeconomic implications of virtual shopping : a theoretical approach," CCSO Working Papers 200004, University of Groningen, CCSO Centre for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  17. Chr. Hjorth-Andersen, 2000. "A Model of the Danish Book Market," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 27-43, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Dixit, Avinash K & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1977. "Monopolistic Competition and Optimum Product Diversity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(3), pages 297-308, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  19. Frederick van der Ploeg, 2003. "Beyond the Dogma of the Fixed Book Price Agreement," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo GmbH. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Ours, Jan C. van, 2006. "Children reading fiction books because they want to," Discussion Paper 3, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  2. van Ours, Jan C, 2006. "Children Reading Fiction Books Because They Want To," CEPR Discussion Papers 5472, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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