03-17-2012, 03:50 AM | #1 |
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Swiss Referendum on Fixed Book Prices
This is an interesting link published back on 27 Feb about a then upcoming Swiss Referendum on Fixed Prices for Ebooks. Those who have read some of my past posts will realise that, whilst I sympathise with the point of view of the author of the article, I do not agree with it.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Analysis.../?spt=hs&or=an This referendum is now all over with the result that 56.1% of the voters were against the reintroduction of fixed ebook prices. The Booksellers and Publishers Association was quoted as being disappointed but acknowledged such fixed prices were now off the agenda. I recommend Google Translate for people such as myself who's skills are limited to the English language only. http://www.tagesschau.sf.tv/Hintergr...chpreisbindung A post on Slashdot summarises and contains the relevant links I have quoted above. http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/03/...price-controls |
03-17-2012, 04:33 PM | #2 |
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When was the last time we had a democracy, I mean a referendum?
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03-17-2012, 06:31 PM | #3 |
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Ummmm..........
Rizla, sorry to be a pedant, but "referendum" is a form of "direct" democracy (i.e. Switzerland) where those permitted to, vote on political measures directly, whereas in a "representational" democracy ( US, UK, most of Europe) those permitted to vote, do so to elect pepresentatives that determine political measures for them.
[ I just happened to have done some research on government by referenda in the past.....] |
03-17-2012, 06:57 PM | #4 | |
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Is Amazon now incentivized to move some of its operations from Germany to Switzerland? And how does this affect eBooks in the short to medium term? |
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03-17-2012, 07:10 PM | #5 |
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The majority of the general public will always choose the cheaper price. I'm actually surprised that the numbers were as close as they were. In America, merely suggesting that bookstores shouldn't be allowed to discount would have people protesting who haven't bought a book in their lives.
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03-17-2012, 09:45 PM | #6 |
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03-17-2012, 11:00 PM | #7 | |
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03-17-2012, 11:12 PM | #8 | |
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03-18-2012, 01:14 AM | #9 |
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03-18-2012, 03:43 AM | #10 | |
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In the US referendums are fairly common on state level, usually as a result of some popular grass roots movement. The closer a voter is to an issue the higher the vested interest. The advantage of a referendum is that once it has been decided implementation will be swift, |
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03-18-2012, 08:03 AM | #11 |
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Amazon's ebook operation is located in Luxembourg. Wherever they are located they can simply sell books at fixed prices in Germany and Austria and at discounted prices in Switzerland. However, Switzerland is unlikely to turn into the bargain price book shopping place for the German language market, you can just expect prices to drop to German levels. Whatever you buy, it is almost always more expensive in Switzerland than in Germany. Good to see that people have the power to decide issues themselves, instead of having them decided by lobby financed politicians, though.
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