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Amazon's only real negative so far as agency is concerned is lower sales volumes of Cartel books due to the Cartel controlling these prices. And even this is no doubt offset to at least some extent by increased sales of non-cartel books. Amazon likes to optimise its prices so as to maximise its revenue, rather than protecting the paper book market or preserving the erosion of some nebulous concept of "value" which would be killed by lower prices.
Amazon no longer spends its money subsidising Cartel Prices. In allowing Agency contracts, they have given the Cartel a long rope and they are proceeding to hang themselves. I expect that the Cartel will eventually be forced to reduce its prices in the face of an increasing loss of market share. But, of course, under an Agency model, the Cartel will themselves bear the entire cost of doing so.
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