This paper empirically analyzes how the use of vertical price restraints has impacted retail prices in the market for e-books. In 2010 five of the six largest publishers simultaneously adopted the agency model of book sales, allowing them to directly set retail prices. This led the Department of...

This paper examines the relationship between agency contracts and retail prices when vertical contracts are determined through bargaining. Our model shows that whether agency contracts lead to higher or lower retail prices than traditional wholesale contracts depends on the distribution of...