The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics Online

The tensions between books as expressions of culture and books as profitable products are analysed using insights from the theory of industrial organization. To stimulate the diversity of books on offer, maintain the density of bookshops and to promote reading, governments grant fixed price monopolies, subsidize authors, levy a lower consumption tax on books, and provide public libraries and education. Market structures and government policies vary widely and there is no case for harmonizing European book policies. The book market is innovative in solving its problems. The main task of the government is to promote reading.