The US textbook industry that is. UK univesities often don't have required textbooks for courses at all (instead you get things like PDF notes being provided directly to students, and often with printed copies subsidised too), and where they do older editions are almost always acceptable (unless it's a course in a subject that moves very quickly where the older edition would genuinely be outdated), and there will usually be some copies available in the library too.

I believe it is like this everywhere in Europe.