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Who Should Set Book Prices?

Author

Listed:
  • Silvi Berger

    (Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia)

  • Morten Hviid

    (Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia)

Abstract

The key question for this paper is by whom and with what restrictions the price of books should be set. In the past, public cultural policy has in some jurisdictions favoured limiting competition at the retail level by mandating a fixed book price system, where prices are the same everywhere. Digitalisation has enabled some competition authorities to challenge this practice. This has left us with a situation where very different rules apply to the book market in different jurisdictions and where the initial question of who sets prices faced with what restrictions is given a very different answer across EU member states. This paper uses recent antitrust cases to highlight the tension over who should have the price setting power in the market for books.

Suggested Citation

  • Silvi Berger & Morten Hviid, 2019. "Who Should Set Book Prices?," Working Paper series, University of East Anglia, Centre for Competition Policy (CCP) 2019-07, Centre for Competition Policy, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
  • Handle: RePEc:uea:ueaccp:2019_07
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Retail Price MFN; Across Platform Parity Agreements; price guarantees; agency models;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • D4 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design
    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media

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