Working paper

The Benefits of Diverse Preferences in Library Consortia

Doh-Shin Jeon, and Domenico Menicucci

Abstract

This paper identifies strategies to build a library consortium from a long term point of view. Contrary to the conventional wisdom to build a consortium around groups of homogenous institutions (Davis, 2002), we find that libraries with similar preferences are likely to lose from building a consortium while libraries with opposite preferences almost always gain from it. Our results suggest a strong tension between a short-term strategy and a long-term strategy as long as the former dictates forming a consortium around libraries with homogenous preferences in order to gain from quantity discounts. This tension might create a "library consortium trap".

Keywords

Library Consortium; Academic Journals; Personalized Prices; Cor- relation; Multimarket contact; Level-playing Field;

JEL codes

  • D4: Market Structure and Pricing
  • K21: Antitrust Law
  • L41: Monopolization • Horizontal Anticompetitive Practices
  • L82: Entertainment • Media

Replaced by

Doh-Shin Jeon, and Domenico Menicucci, The Benefits of Diverse Preferences in Library Consortia, The Journal of Industrial Economics, vol. 65, n. 1, March 2017, pp. 105–135.

Reference

Doh-Shin Jeon, and Domenico Menicucci, The Benefits of Diverse Preferences in Library Consortia, TSE Working Paper, n. 13-425, August 21, 2013, revised December 2015.

See also

Published in

TSE Working Paper, n. 13-425, August 21, 2013, revised December 2015