4 ms·

As an American, I find this distinction interesting. Can the two of you (Eru and arrrg), or some other Europeans, weigh in on this? Personally, I don't underst

As an American, I find this distinction interesting. Can the two of you (Eru and arrrg), or some other Europeans, weigh in on this? Personally, I don't understand why books shouldn't fall under the same regulations as other goods. Sure, a book has intrinsic value not found in a bottle of shampoo, but so do movies, video games, paintings, and all other art. Are those categories also regulated?

warp 14y ago
Apparently the general idea is that because publishers and retailers compete less on price, the price for bestsellers can stay high, the income of which is supposed to be used by publishers to fund the publishing of less profitable books. So, the goal of the fixed price is to ensure a variety and diversity of published books which do not all necessarily have to be profitable. Personally I think the system is completely insane, and that we shouldn't treat books different from other cultural works (music, video games, movies, etc..). EDIT: The Netherlands also has a fixed-price for books system, and that is what I was talking about above. Presumably the goal in France is similar, but I am not familiar with their implementation of this idea.
- jlgreco 14y ago
  Seems like a better system might involve placing large taxes on books (or ideally, all forms of media. Don't want to drive people away from books..), the proceeds of which would go towards a patronage system that would support French artists. Trying to drive up profits of publishing corporations to enact the change you want to see seems oddly... American.
- Iv 14y ago
  It used to be sensible, when having a profusion of publishers was the only way to guarantee the plurality of opinions. Nowadays however, with internet, this necessity disapeared. And just like un music and movies, people who benefit from the statu quo refuse to acknowledge that...
arrrg 14y ago
I’m not sure what I think about the regulation (I’m most certainly a liberal but I know too little about it to have a coherent opinion, I also think it’s not all that important to care much about it), I just wanted to make clear that many European liberals are in fact in favor of that regulation.
eru 14y ago
I don't really understand the distinction, either. But Europeans also (in the countries that I know about) pay less value added tax on books (and food) than on other goods.

warp 14y ago

Apparently the general idea is that because publishers and retailers compete less on price, the price for bestsellers can stay high, the income of which is supposed to be used by publishers to fund the publishing of less profitable books. So, the goal of the fixed price is to ensure a variety and diversity of published books which do not all necessarily have to be profitable. Personally I think the system is completely insane, and that we shouldn't treat books different from other cultural works (music, video games, movies, etc..). EDIT: The Netherlands also has a fixed-price for books system, and that is what I was talking about above. Presumably the goal in France is similar, but I am not familiar with their implementation of this idea.

jlgreco 14y ago
Seems like a better system might involve placing large taxes on books (or ideally, all forms of media. Don't want to drive people away from books..), the proceeds of which would go towards a patronage system that would support French artists. Trying to drive up profits of publishing corporations to enact the change you want to see seems oddly... American.
Iv 14y ago
It used to be sensible, when having a profusion of publishers was the only way to guarantee the plurality of opinions. Nowadays however, with internet, this necessity disapeared. And just like un music and movies, people who benefit from the statu quo refuse to acknowledge that...

arrrg 14y ago

I’m not sure what I think about the regulation (I’m most certainly a liberal but I know too little about it to have a coherent opinion, I also think it’s not all that important to care much about it), I just wanted to make clear that many European liberals are in fact in favor of that regulation.

eru 14y ago

I don't really understand the distinction, either. But Europeans also (in the countries that I know about) pay less value added tax on books (and food) than on other goods.