Economic and cultural factors and illegal copying in the university textbook market

Antonello E. Scorcu () and Laura Vici
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Antonello E. Scorcu: Department of Economics, University of Bologna, Italy

No AWP-01-2013, ACEI Working Paper Series from Association for Cultural Economics International

Abstract: The role of economic factors, such as family income, the price of illegal reproductions of books, the enforcement rules and the expected penalties are considered the main determinants of the possible infringements of the copyright law. However, the comparison between individual economic gains and losses offers only a partial explanation, as also cultural individual habits and peer effects exert important influences. Using a unique dataset based on a survey conducted at the University of Bologna, Italy, this paper analyses empirically the relevance of socio-economic as well as cultural determinants in the decision process of using illegal copies of university textbooks. From a policy perspective, the analysis suggests that an effective enforcement of the copyright rules should take into account the cultural behavior and students'€™ learning practices.

Keywords: Copyright; textbooks; illegal copying (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Z11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 24 pages
Date: 2013-02, Revised 2013-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cul, nep-cwa, nep-ict and nep-iue
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