Gudy, zeb, thank you.
The part about the author getting paid the same, whatever the sale price, is moot. The publisher will be disinclined to lower the price because they'll lose more (proportionally) the lower the price gets.
But Harry's answer begs the question - Are the libraries more numerous and/or better stocked, in Europe, due to a higher demand brought on by the disinclination to buy high priced books? I can just see the return to the times when a well stocked personal library indicated great wealth.
Although I used the library frequently, I would save up $.75 to buy a book every now and then. Compare that to $10 books today.
That was 50+ years ago, and books (in that state) were tax exempt.
The point being that if I were an average child in France, would I be able to buy a book? Would I even bother to read if a library wasn't nearby?
In the US, it seems that there is a cultural prohibition on reading and education. There was even a thread on MR about whether or not there was a stigma associated with reading in public.
Europe appears to be attempting to stop changes to the status quo re. publishers and small book stores. Is this not harmful to the public interests?