The Cost of Copyright Revisited: Identifying Competition Effects in Small Markets

Abstract

A growing number of empirical studies measure how extended copyright terms negatively affect the number of book titles in print. Many of these same studies also demonstrate significant differences in the pricing of bound volumes, ebooks, and audio books editions of public domain and copyrighted titles. At least one study has shown that audio books are more likely to be made from public domain titles. All research to date, however, has been conducted in large English language book markets. The present study measures the availability and pricing of books (bound, ebook, audiobook) in two small, non-English book markets. Although copyright generally maintains a strong effect on pricing in Finland and Sweden (with the exception of Finnish bound volumes), the effect on in-print status suggests a significant “small markets” effect.

Keywords: empirical, copyright, Swedish, Finnish, price, in-print, public domain, books, ebooks, audio books, English

JEL Classification: K11, L11, Z11