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Are Books Luxury Goods in Russia or not?

Author

Listed:
  • Nataliya Kochkina

    (Research Group for Applied Markets and Enterprises Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics)

  • Evgeniya Popova

    (Research Group for Applied Markets and Enterprises Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics)

Abstract

In the times of Soviet Union books were a luxury good. This paper examines whether books are still a luxury good in Russia. For this purpose data from one of the Russian book retail chains is used to empirically estimate a general book demand and separate demand models for genres. We focus on estimating income elasticity. For this reason we construct a covariate on the basis of monthly wages of working individuals that reveals consumer income. Moreover, this paper is one of the few which addresses in detail the influence of books content quality on book demand. The main result is that books on average are not luxury goods anymore in Russia. However two genres: foreign prose and poetry are exceptions and can be called luxury goods. We also conclude that quality control covariates (book rating and number of people who rated the book) are important determinants of book demand as they influence significantly the general book demand and the demand models for different genres as well.

Suggested Citation

  • Nataliya Kochkina & Evgeniya Popova, 2017. "Are Books Luxury Goods in Russia or not?," ACEI Working Paper Series AWP-06-2017, Association for Cultural Economics International, revised Jul 2017.
    • Handle: RePEc:cue:wpaper:awp-06-2017
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Canoy, Marcel & van Ours, Jan C. & van der Ploeg, Frederick, 2006. "The Economics of Books," Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture, in: V.A. Ginsburgh & D. Throsby (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Art and Culture, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 21, pages 721-761, Elsevier.
    2. Sumiko Asai, 2016. "Determinants of demand and price for best-selling novels in paperback in Japan," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 40(4), pages 375-392, November.
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    7. Veblen, Thorstein, 2009. "The Theory of the Leisure Class," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199552580 edited by Banta, Martha.
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    Cited by:

    1. Samuel Cameron, 2019. "Cultural economics, books and reading," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 43(4), pages 517-526, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Russian book market; demand function; income elasticity; luxury goods; price elasticity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L21 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Business Objectives of the Firm
    • L23 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Organization of Production

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