{"id":1617,"date":"2014-10-14T16:27:08","date_gmt":"2014-10-14T23:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/?p=1617"},"modified":"2014-10-20T15:16:07","modified_gmt":"2014-10-20T22:16:07","slug":"amazon-and-monopoly-encore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/10\/amazon-and-monopoly-encore\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon and monopoly: encore (updated)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"still<\/a>The debate that won’t die. I’ve posted on whether Amazon is a monopoly (it isn’t) here<\/a> and here<\/a>. Today Joe Nocera<\/a> joins Matt Yglesias<\/a> and Annie Lowrey<\/a> in his critique of Franklin Foer<\/a>‘s New Republic<\/em> article that tries to claim dangerous monopoly powers at Amazon. Artsjournal.com<\/a> blog neighbor Scott Timberg<\/a> addresses Nocera:<\/p>\n

But on the larger question of whether Amazon is literally and technically a monopoly: Probably not, but the distinction is not all that important. It\u2019s a bully, it\u2019s destroying important institutions, and it\u2019s getting more and more powerful, and its founder now owns the dominant newspaper in the nation\u2019s capital. Amazon controls roughly half the trade in books in the U.S. We may need a new word to describe what it is, but to sit around and debate terminology as we watch the creative destruction seems to me the worst kind of chattering-class hair-splitting.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No. The debate is not about the term<\/em> ‘monopoly’, and it is not chattering-class hair-splitting: that completely gets the wrong end of the stick. The debate is one of substance: are consumers being harmed by the market structure; and, is the dominant firm preventing other companies, new or existing, from gaining market share? In the case of Amazon the answer to each of these questions is ‘no.’ Even its critics acknowledge that it has gained its large market share through superior offerings to consumers, in prices, service, and the Kindle reader. And its large market share is thoroughly contestable: there is nothing stopping any firm from developing a better e-book reader, or superior service in delivery, price, or selection. Just today NPR reports<\/a> that Google is planning on aggressively entering the market for same-day delivery of goods. Nobody, even the most avid reader, needs Amazon – there are lots of alternative ways to get your books. This is not a debate about terms, it’s about outcomes. And until someone demonstrates that Amazon’s market share is harming buyers, and\/or preventing competition, the ‘there oughtta be a law’ case is pretty weak.<\/p>\n

UPDATE: October 20, Paul Krugman<\/a>: ‘Amazon is not, at least so far, acting like a monopolist, a dominant seller with the power to raise prices. Instead, it is acting as a monopsonist, a dominant buyer with the power to push prices down.’ He believes its market power is excessive, and overall is harmful to the US.<\/p>\n

MORE UPDATE: Cheap Talk<\/a> responds to Krugman, citing Krugman’s 2000 argument<\/a> for why breaking up Microsoft (the monster company of that era) would produce bad outcomes.<\/p>\n

AND MORE: Tyler Cowen<\/a>: Krugman’s column ‘appears terrible at first glance, but in fact he presents a new and original argument.’ Cowen concludes: ‘It is fine to argue that Amazon is being unfair to some authors and to object on ethical grounds.\u00a0 The economist also should add that readers don\u2019t seem to mind very much.\u00a0 Most of the objections I am seeing are coming from authors and publishers, who of course in this sector are much less diversified in their interests than are readers.’<\/p>\n

AND MORE (still the same day!): Times reports<\/a> that all-powerful, literary-culture-destroying\u00a0monopoly<\/span> monopsony Amazon has struck a deal with Simon & Schuster:<\/p>\n

Simon & Schuster, however, seems to have struck a deal it feels it can live with. It will generally be able to set its own prices for its e-books, said the person, who declined to be named. Nor does it seem to be surrendering too much on margin.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

OK: more updates if anyone says anything new<\/em> about this company, but otherwise I’m moving on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The debate that won’t die. I’ve posted on whether Amazon is a monopoly (it isn’t) here and here. Today Joe Nocera joins Matt Yglesias and Annie Lowrey in his critique of Franklin Foer‘s New Republic article that tries to claim dangerous monopoly powers at Amazon. Artsjournal.com blog neighbor Scott Timberg addresses Nocera: But on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1617","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-issues","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/jail-card-monopoly.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3dIW5-q5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1557,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/10\/is-amazon-com-a-monopoly\/","url_meta":{"origin":1617,"position":0},"title":"Is Amazon.com a monopoly? (updated October 10)","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"October 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In a comment on my previous post, on Amazon and what I saw as overheated rhetoric regarding censorship, BobG wrote: Arguing over a definition of censorship is avoiding the actual issue. Amazon IS making it difficult to get certain books (that\u2019s their announced strategy) and they are poised to become\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"still don't need it","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/jail-card-monopoly.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/jail-card-monopoly.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/jail-card-monopoly.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/jail-card-monopoly.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":965,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/07\/amazon-and-the-independents\/","url_meta":{"origin":1617,"position":1},"title":"Amazon and the independents","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"July 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Two stories linked by artsjournal.com today about Amazon: gigaom.com (?) on how Amazon is further cutting prices on hardbacks, and the American Booksellers Association upset that President Obama held a major speech on jobs at an Amazon warehouse. Observations: First, while I possess no special insights into what goes on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"can I help you find something?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/youve_got_mail_063udz92-300x168.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1050,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/02\/is-amazon-good-for-readers\/","url_meta":{"origin":1617,"position":2},"title":"Is Amazon good for readers?","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"February 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I enjoyed George Packer's New Yorker article on Amazon, and recommend it. ArtsJournal's link to the story has the heading \"Is Amazon good for books? Not just publishers, but books themselves?\" The New Yorker's own sub-heading is \"Amazon is good for customers. But is it good for books?\" I find\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/02\/is-amazon-good-for-readers\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"good for this reader","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/amazon-warehouse-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/amazon-warehouse-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/amazon-warehouse-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/amazon-warehouse-2.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1548,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/09\/this-is-not-censorship\/","url_meta":{"origin":1617,"position":3},"title":"This is not censorship (updated, again)","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"September 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The New York Times reports on authors forming a group to back publisher Hachette in its quest to have Amazon.com charge consumers higher prices for books. A literary agent is quoted: \u201cIt\u2019s very clear to me, and to those I represent, that what Amazon is doing is very detrimental to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"this is censored","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/dream-of-ding-village.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1418,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/07\/summer-books-brad-stones-the-everything-store\/","url_meta":{"origin":1617,"position":4},"title":"Summer books: Brad Stone’s ‘The Everything Store’","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"July 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In the past few months there are few businesses that have come in for such vilification as Amazon.com - including in many of the stories and blogs here at artsjournal.com - and so Brad Stone's book, subtitled 'Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon', is timely, to say the least.\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2014\/07\/summer-books-brad-stones-the-everything-store\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"a difficult case","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/everything-store-193x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":785,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/2013\/05\/amazon-and-economic-impact-eitheror\/","url_meta":{"origin":1617,"position":5},"title":"Amazon and economic impact: either\/or","author":"Michael Rushton","date":"May 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Daily Telegraph reports: Amazon\u2019s UK operation generated \u00a34.2bn of sales last year, but it used a subsidiary in Luxembourg to help it reduce its corporation tax bill in the country to just \u00a32.4m in 2012. According to documents filed at Companies House, the company received \u00a32.5m in government handouts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "issues"","block_context":{"text":"issues","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/category\/issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"ABB - Brilon, Werkseroffnung","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/ribbon-300x192.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1617"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1640,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1617\/revisions\/1640"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/worth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}