Economic Analysis on Book Distribution System in Japan

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K03470
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Economic policy
• Research Institution: Meiji University
• Principal Investigator: Asai Sumiko 明治大学, 政治経済学部, 専任教授 (00329476)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 再販売価格維持制度 / 電子書籍

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In Japan, while publishers set prices for books, bookstores cannot change book list prices set by publishers, regardless of sales. This study estimated demand for novels books and pocket-sized paperbacks to evaluate the Japanese fixed-price system. The estimation results found that demand for both types is price elastic, implying that discounts are effective to gain additional revenues for publishers and bookstores and to reduce the number of books returned from bookstores to publishers.

Free Research Field

産業組織論

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

書籍に対する再販売価格維持制度の歴史は日本では長いが、データで制度の有効性が検証されることはこれまでなかった。また、学術上でも、これまで実証分析が行われることはなかった。今回の需要関数の推定から、価格拘束の緩和は、出版関係者の収入増加と返品の減少につながる可能性があり、独占禁止法における再販売価格維持制度に見直しの余地があることが示された。