Cultural exception? Why regulating the book market contradicts conventional wisdom about competition

Fixing retail book prices is a common policy in Europe, but how does preventing competition affect booksellers and buyers? Christos Genakos, Lorien Sabatino and Tommaso Valletti find that when the ability to offer customers lower prices is restricted, sellers shift towards competing on customer service and book variety - improving buyers' experience.

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Christos Genakos, Lorien Sabatino and Tommaso Valletti

26 May 2025

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LSE Europp

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https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2025/05/26/cultural-exception-why-regulating-the-book-market-contradicts-conventional-wisdom-about-competition/

This work is published under POID and the CEP's Growth programme.