Economics Questions

Re: Amazon.fr's free delivery service endangered

Don Roberto — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 11:06:28 GMT

Then again, as far as I can recall the french government has pretty much always been known for their protectionism. It's just surprising that they still, after 200 years, haven't learned from Smith and Ricardo.

Another thought, that crossed my mind, was that whether this minimum-price exists because of the lower salestax on books in the EU. It could be a way for the government to increase their taxrevenue.

Re: Amazon.fr's free delivery service endangered

pairunoyd — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 09:42:57 GMT

Maybe Amazon can find a way to compensate the French for referrals. If the shipping and handling is $7 they can offer them $7 for the email address of a friend. The email address could simply be made up and that's that.

Does Amazon have to sell books at a certain price and then add to that a S+H fee? How exactly does it work?

I have a co-worker that moved here from Slovakia several yrs ago. He's having a tough time financially lately and he was talking about how employers are required to give employees 4 weeks of vacation and provide healthcare etc in Slovakia. When I asked what his income might be, he said it'd probably be about 1/2 his current U.S. income. I imagine he was being generous and it'd most likely be more like 1/3. I don't discuss politics/economics w/ him too much because he's been soooo brainwashed. His country was Communist for about his first 20 or so yrs of life.

I made the comment that our employer could roughly cut our pay 2%-4% and give us an additional 1-2 weeks of vacation (1/52, 2/52). I then told him this is an option they should provide! I do believe employers could provide many more compensative options that are of value to employees but don't cost the employer. But the main reason I added the 'an option they should provide' comment was to get past his socialistic bias and at the same time emphasize that nothing is free and that 2 extra weeks of vacation might not be a good trade-off vs 50-65+% pay cuts.

What about lotteries? Do the French allow them? Maybe French customers would get points that would be applied to a S+H lottery, a lottery they have 1 in 1 chance of winning. lol. What about free speech and the right to an education? Should others be able to infringe of such a right? Just because someone is selling books in France doesnt mean they should have a special influence on someone selling books on Amazon. What about the Frenchman selling pinto beans? If the book buyer saves $7 he'll have $7 to spend on pinto beans. Why should a book seller be given priority over a pinto seller? It's insanity!

It's all about physical force. You MUST spend here...or else!

Re: Amazon.fr's free delivery service endangered

RobertCR — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 08:46:13 GMT

This has always been the primary argument for antitrust suits... the plaintiff tends to claim that by being so successful at competition, the defendant is being anti-competitive! I remember reading articles on mises.org that go further into depth on this topic... for instance, one that discussed the logical absurdities in the definition of "perfect competition." Essentially, "perfect competition" is a scenario in which all companies offer the same product or service in exactly the same way, i.e. true competition is entirely absent!

Search around the site. There's gold in them there archives!

Re: Amazon.fr's free delivery service endangered

Don Roberto — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 22:43:06 GMT

Jeremie Rostan:
Well, the "best" part is that they claim they are fighting for free competition, saying: we cannot compete with amazon.fr, so amazon.fr represents a menace for free competition... .

That reminds me of the latest ideas that are here, in Estonia, about the law on labour. Last night, a member of one party said that there is no way the labourmarket could become more flexible by making it easier for employers to fire workers.

Amazon.fr's free delivery service endangered

Jeremie Rostan — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 21:25:43 GMT

Do you know the last french joke ? We have a sort of minimum-price law for books, here (Loi Lang), and some small-size urban bookshops are using it in order to have the courts forbid amazon.fr to offer free delivery, saying that this is equal to lowering selling prices under the minimum.

Well, the "best" part is that they claim they are fighting for free competition, saying: we cannot compete with amazon.fr, so amazon.fr represents a menace for free competition... .

Condillac, Say, Bastiat, where a you?