Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham
This is the bit I don't understand. They're worried that it will hurt the consumers if Amazon eventually decides to raise the prices... like they did?
Graham
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They do raise that as an argument, and its plausible-monopolies do raise prices (MS Office could be a lot cheaper ). However, the price argument is not their Sunday punch.
Their real argument is that the book industry will become poorer and less productive. B&M stores will more rapidly go out of business, meaning that discovery options for authors will decline . Publishers will be subject to be squeezed by a monopsonistic retailer (Amazon) and and will therefore lack the resources to finance major nonfiction projects like Robert Caro's multi-volume biography of LBJ and to bet on ground breaking new authors .
They also argue that the remedy provided will be an administrative nightmare . They make quite a few arguments, some better than others.
If your focus is purely on prices short term, then those arguments will be unconvincing.