The development of textbook market from the transition until present

The paper presents the development of the Hungarian textbook market since its birth in the early 1990s until now. This market has a number of specialties due to the fact that the product (the textbook) is rather different from regular products: the state assigns the customers, obligates them to consume the product, and sets quality requirements that the product should meet; those who choose from the market (teachers) do not correspond to those who consume (pupils), neither to those who pay (parents, state). In spite of this, the textbook market does possess market characteristics and publishers following various market strategies compete with each other. The paper highlights the recent consequences of the strong presence of both the market mechanism and the state control (that is supposed to be in line with the education policy of the government) on the Hungarian textbook market.