Monopoly power in the eighteenth-century British book trade

David Fielding and Shef Rogers

European Review of Economic History, 2017, vol. 21, issue 4, 393-413

Abstract: Some authors have argued that reform of British copyright law during the eighteenth century broke the Stationers’ Company monopoly over the English book trade, and the resulting competition was a driving force behind the expansion of British book production during the enlightenment. We analyse a new dataset on eighteenth-century book prices and author payments, showing that the legal changes were associated with no reduction in prices and only a temporary increase in payments to authors. Other economic factors led to a gradual reduction in the booksellers’ mark-ups, but there is no evidence that the legal reforms diminished their monopoly power.

Date: 2017
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Working Paper: Monopoly Power in the Eighteenth Century British Book Trade (2014)
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