Empirical Effects of Resale Price Maintenance: Evidence from Fixed Book Price Policies in the European Book Sector

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects of resale price maintenance (RPM) agreements in Europe by studying a legally-permitted form of RPM in the book market. In particular, we study the effects of such agreements on prices and sales, finding that countries which have Fixed Book Prices witness higher book sales with no noticeable effect on the average price of books. Whilst these results are limited to the book sector, they highlight that RPM agreements have the ability to confer positive competition effects and absolute prohibition of such agreements may not always be warranted.

This is a work in progress and will be updated when a new draft becomes available.

Rhys J. Williams
Rhys J. Williams
PhD student in Economics

Rhys is a doctoral candidate in Economics at Big Ten University. His research interests are in empirical industrial organisation and related topics.