Re: Libraries Urge Justice Departmen to Block Cinven and Candover

["Anthony Watkinson" <anthony.watkinson@btopenworld.com>]

Purchase of BertelsmannSpringer 
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Having made the statement earlier that McCabe's thesis falls down if he
assumes an inexorable link between purchase and price rises, it is clearly
not enough to explain that this is not my own experience and I hope to be
able to produce evidence (in time!) to back up my assertion. This would be
evidence to back up my own memory of what was done by Chapman & Hall -
nothing more general.

However an example of a purchase that did not result in price rises has
been pointed out to me: it is the purchase of Gordon & Breach by Taylor &
Francis. I have not checked this and indeed (as an independent researcher)
it is very difficult for me to do so, but perhaps someone on this list
could see if I am correct in assuming that Gordon & Breach prices were not
put up dramatically by their new owners.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Davis" <pmd8@cornell.edu>
To: <liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu>
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2003 4:01 PM
Subject: Re: Libraries Urge Justice Departmen to Block Cinven and Candover
Purchase of BertelsmannSpringer

> Anthony Watkinson argues that while Mark McCabe's research indicates that
> mergers result in higher prices, he disputes that publishers see this as
> cause and effect, and wonders why we have not asked publishers HOW they
> decide to price journals.  With all due respect to Anthony -- in
> philosophical terms -- this is a red herring.  It is not necessary to
> prove intent in order to demonstrate that mergers in the publishing world
> have resulted in higher prices.  Whether mergers directly cause higher
> journal prices, or whether mergers cause changes in the publishing
> environment which then cause higher prices is moot.  The research of
> McCabe and others illustrate the relationship between mergers and price
> increases, and that does not appear to be disputed.  If Anthony can find
> contrary evidence that mergers cause prices to fall, or even price
> stabilization, I would be very interested in seeing this research. --Phil
> Davis, Cornell University