Related fact: Germany was one of the last countries to adopt copyright laws, and even then they were pretty lax[0]. Historians believe that this legal situation was one the factors behind the rise in Germany’s industrial prowess.<p>In a way, Germany became a industrial powerhouse because _it had cheap books_.<p>[0]: Arsene Lupin’s adventures with Sherlock Holmes were published as “Herlock Sholmes” everywhere except Germany for eg.
Germany does well because there is a fairly low level of unemployment, and unions have board representation = they get ALL the financials = they know when things are good and bad, and by general cross industry co-operation only ask for wage increases when the company can afford it. There have been occasions where wages went down - for the good of the company. Similar to Japanese unions.
In addition, the spread between the lowest wages and the average is small by US standards, so even the lower paid people can get by OK. In the USA the unions demand beyond what the companies can afford = the US auto and machine tool business was exported to Taiwan, Japan, Korea and now China - whose quality gets better every year.
See what tunnel diggers and crane operators get in New York if you want a shock and an answer to why US subways and highrises cost so much (as well as land costs) and corporate real estate rent extortion = where the next crash will come from as business taxes are applied to corporate rentals for residences.
<i>The prices of e-books, which currently account for less than 1 percent of all book sales in Germany, are regulated by the Buchpreisbindung.</i><p>I must be missing something fundamental because I don't understand how you could hope to enforce that. If I was running a website selling eBooks I would not pay the slightest bit of attention as to the physical location of my customers.
>mantra that price is everything, and lower is always better than higher.<p>Quality decides what 'better' is, not price. A tool made by a craftsman with much better materials will, itself, be used to create superior results.<p>There are two kinds of book readers in the world, my friend.
Yes, it may have advantages. But every advantage comes with disadvantages.<p>Same with Uber, which is forbidden in Germany. Once you get used to Uber you wonder, how you were you able to ever live without it. Germany is a backward country. Digitization is 3rd world there. Looks, like under Merkel the country has been asleep for two decades. I am not sure they are going to wake up.