전자상거래의 효과를 막는 가격할인제한 영향의 탐색적 연구: 한국출판유통산업(도서정가제)을 중심으로

Research Purpose: The effect of price discount limit regulation, which is strengthen by the Korean Government in 2014, for supporting small and medium bookstores is investigated in detail. The research examines whether this regulation has been effective in protecting small and medium bookstores and has made negative side-effect against initial expectations. Research Methods: Analyzing descriptive statistics and graphs of time series data for publishing distribution industry in Korea is used in the study. In addition, this study observes the trend lines of the graph before and after 2014. Results in Research: The price discount limit regulation in Korean publishing distribution industry has not supported small and medium bookstores but has decreased the consumer surplus which book consumers could earn price discount benefits over 10 percent by e-commerce and Internet bookstore. On the contrary, it has increased the supplier surplus of large bookstores and Internet bookstores. Research Conclusion: The price discount limit regulation in Korean publishing distribution industry has to be revised. The elimination of the unnecessary regulation can increase the consumer surplus and the industry’s efficiency.